Tech Alley Vegas | Who’s Got My Money - August 2024
Resumo
TLDRDer Vortrag beginnt mit einer kurzen Referenz zu einem Song von Journey, der als Metapher für die Chancen und Herausforderungen im Fundraising dient. Dabei wird betont, dass Glück oft das Ergebnis von sorgfältiger Planung und Design ist, was durch Zitate von Branch Ricky und John Milton illustriert wird. Ricky, bekannt als Innovator in der Geschichte der Major League Baseball, und seine Entscheidung, Jackie Robinson zu unterzeichnen, werden als Beispiel für mutige und durchdachte Geschäftsentscheidungen verwendet. Der Vortrag beleuchtet den Unterschied zwischen ungeplanten und geplanten Geschäftsstrategien, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Fundraising und Marktstrategien. Betont wird, dass Gründer oftmals die Notwendigkeit einer strukturierten Herangehensweise vernachlässigen, um erfolgreich Kapital zu beschaffen. Ein weiterer Fokus liegt auf der Wichtigkeit, Probleme statt Lösungen zu lieben, um eine nachhaltige Unternehmensentwicklung zu gewährleisten. Dies wird durch das Beispiel von Yuri Levine verdeutlicht. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Idee, dass Erfolg in der Unternehmenswelt durch berechnetes Handeln und ständige Anpassung an die Marktbedürfnisse erreicht werden kann. Diese Punkte werden im Zusammenhang mit den Herausforderungen und Chancen beim Fundraising und der Skalierung neuer Geschäftsideen diskutiert.
Conclusões
- 🎵 Journey's Song als Metapher für Fundraising-Chancen
- 💡 'Luck is the Residue of Design' - Gezielte Planung bringt Erfolg
- ⚾ Beispiel Branch Ricky und Jackie Robinson für mutige Entscheidungen
- 🚀 Wichtigkeit der Markt- und Fundraising-Strategien
- 🧠 Liebe das Problem, nicht die Lösung - nachhaltige Entwicklung
- 🔄 Erfolg durch ständige Anpassung an Marktbedürfnisse
- 🛠 Fusion 42 unterstützt Gründer mit Feedback und Strategien
- 🏆 Der Weg zu 'Market-Ready' ist essenziell für den Erfolg
- 📊 Retention als wichtigster Erfolgsindikator für Startups
- 🌍 Amerikanischer Unternehmergeist als Vorbild für die Welt
Linha do tempo
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Die Sitzung beginnt mit einer Reflexion über das Lied "It Could Have Been You" von Journey. Der Sprecher betont die Wichtigkeit von Design und Planung, insbesondere beim Fundraising, und zitiert Branch Rickey, der sagte, Glück sei das Ergebnis von Design. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Bedeutung von absichtsvoller Planung für Unternehmensgründer in Hinblick auf ihre Markteinführungs- und Fundraising-Strategien.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Der Gründer betont die Bedeutung von Go-to-Market-Strategien (GTM) und erklärt, dass viele Gründer diesen kritischen Schritt überspringen. Er nennt Beispiele von erfolgreichen Unternehmern wie Uri Levine, der betont, dass der Verkauf der Lösung vor dem Produktbau entscheidend ist. Glück wird als das Zusammentreffen von Vorbereitung und Gelegenheit beschrieben.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Es wird über die Herausforderungen und die Notwendigkeit einer strukturierten Herangehensweise beim Fundraising gesprochen. Der Gründer hebt hervor, dass viele Startups trotz potenzieller Produktinnovation oft nicht bereit sind, Investoren zu präsentieren. Es ist entscheidend, Marktbereitschaft zu erlangen und finanziell sowie organisatorisch gerüstet zu sein.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Der Fokus liegt auf dem Konzept der Originalität von Geschäftsmodellen und der Vermarktung. Es werden wichtige Themen zur Fundraising-Strategie, wie die Bedeutung von Frühphaseninvestoren und die Wertschätzung für den Erhalt von Kapital, diskutiert. Der Vergleich von Gewinnspannen und die nachhaltige Skalierung von Geschäftsmodellen werden erörtert.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Der Gründer beschreibt, dass der Verkauf vor dem Bau eines Produkts von entscheidender Bedeutung ist, um nicht in ineffiziente Ausgaben im Marketing zu investieren. Die Notwendigkeit eines effektiven go-to-market Plans wird durch das Beispiel von Michael Dell verdeutlicht, der den Just-in-Time-Produktionsansatz erfolgreich angewandt hat.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Es werden verschiedene Methoden zur Kapitalbeschaffung erörtert, einschließlich der Bedeutung von Baut- und Leasingstrategien. Der Schlüssel liegt in der richtigen Einschätzung von Marktanforderungen und der Anpassung von Geschäftsmodellen, um Investoren zu überzeugen und Fallstricke in der Kapitalbeschaffung zu vermeiden.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Die Präsentation von Erfolgsgeschichten prominenter Unternehmer, die durch Anpassung und kontinuierliche Iteration ihrer Strategien erfolgreich waren, wird hervorgehoben. Die Rolle von Marktverträglichkeit und Rentabilität in den frühen Phasen eines Unternehmens wird als wesentlich für das Wachstum bezeichnet.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
Die Diskussion konzentriert sich auf die Herausforderungen der Fundraising-Kommunikation. Es wird betont, dass persönliche und öffentliche Präsentationen differenziert angegangen werden sollten. Der Gründer weist auf die Notwendigkeit hin, Marktfeedback in die Produktentwicklung zu integrieren, um Investoren zu gewinnen.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
Ein Beispiel aus der Pilzfarm-Industrie wird angeführt, um die Bedeutung einer gut durchdachten GTM-Strategie zu unterstreichen. Die Notwendigkeit einer detaillierten Marketingstrategie und die Gefahr ineffizienter Kapitalallokation im Verkaufsprozess werden hervorgehoben.
- 00:45:00 - 00:50:00
Es wird darüber gesprochen, wie wichtig es ist, aus Ideen umsetzbare Geschäftsstrategien zu entwickeln und nicht darauf zu warten, dass Investoren von einer bloßen Idee überzeugt sind. Es wird empfohlen, das Bewusstsein für die Herausforderungen der Unternehmensumsetzung durch Markttests zu schärfen.
- 00:50:00 - 00:55:00
Der Vortrag beleuchtet die Wichtigkeit von Community-Building und wie man Netzwerkeffekte nutzt, um den Erfolg eines Unternehmens zu fördern. Es wird erklärt, dass Network- und Community-Effekte essenziell für den Aufbau einer stabilen und wachsenden Nutzergemeinschaft sind.
- 00:55:00 - 01:00:00
Die Diskussion über nicht-verwässernde Finanzierungsansätze hebt die Möglichkeit hervor, dass es neben traditionellem Kapital auch andere Wege gibt, um ein Unternehmen zu finanzieren. Es wird betont, dass man flexibel und offen für verschiedene Kapitalformen sein sollte, um den Erfolg langfristig zu sichern.
- 01:00:00 - 01:05:00
Während der Fragerunde wird auf spezifische Fragen zu Convertible Notes und deren Anwendung im Fundraising-Prozess eingegangen. Die Komplexität und der Verhandlungscharakter von solchen Finanzinstrumenten wird betrachtet.
- 01:05:00 - 01:10:00
Es werden praktische Tipps gegeben, wie man erste Investitionen anzieht und dabei sowohl traditionelle als auch innovative Kapitalquellen berücksichtigt. Die Rolle von legalen und operativen Strukturen beim Aufbau von Startups wird ebenfalls diskutiert.
- 01:10:00 - 01:15:00
Der Fokus liegt auf den Herausforderungen bei der Präsentation von Marktideen und wie wichtig es ist, marktfähige und fundierte Geschäftsmodelle zu entwickeln. Der Gründer betont die Notwendigkeit von Genauigkeit und Klarheit in der Kommunikation mit potenziellen Investoren.
- 01:15:00 - 01:20:00
Durch zahlreiche praktische Beispiele wird verdeutlicht, wie Gründer ihr Fundraising und die Einführung neuer Produkte optimieren können. Die Session mutet an, das Verständnis für wirkungsvolle Kommunikationsstrategien zu verbessern und Gründer auf Marktveränderungen vorzubereiten.
- 01:20:00 - 01:28:45
Abschließend wird eine Einladung zur Teilnahme an weiteren Gemeinschafts- und Lernerfahrungen angeboten, um die Fähigkeiten im Fundraising und in der Startup-Entwicklung weiter zu verbessern. Die Bedeutung des kontinuierlichen Lernens und Anpassens an Marktveränderungen wird als entscheidend beschrieben.
Mapa mental
Perguntas frequentes
Wer ist Mr. Branch Ricky?
Branch Ricky war eine bedeutende Figur in der Major League Baseball, bekannt dafür, Jackie Robinson 1946 unter Vertrag genommen zu haben.
Warum ist der Song von Journey relevant?
Der Song symbolisiert die Chancen und Herausforderungen beim Fundraising in der Startup-Welt.
Was bedeutet 'Luck is the Residue of Design'?
Es bedeutet, dass Glück oft das Ergebnis von Planung und zielgerichtetem Handeln ist.
Was sind die Hauptthemen des Vortrags?
Musik, die Wichtigkeit von Design beim Gründungsprozess, Fundraising-Strategien und die Rolle von Zufall und Vorbereitung.
Ver mais resumos de vídeos
- 00:00:06we were so close but we were so far
- 00:00:09away so played a song at the beginning
- 00:00:12of the session today some of you guys
- 00:00:14might know the band Journey any 80s
- 00:00:17music fans in here everybody should
- 00:00:18raise your hand or you're out anyway
- 00:00:21this is a song that's not you know
- 00:00:23necessarily played very often when we
- 00:00:24think of Journey but I think it's an
- 00:00:26appropriate song it's called it could
- 00:00:28have been you which comes off this
- 00:00:29Raised on Radio album and I played it a
- 00:00:32few times I played it during the pitch
- 00:00:33Kung Fu session which we do every
- 00:00:35Thursday for Founders to come pitch and
- 00:00:37get expertise and feedback and hear from
- 00:00:39other funders I played it the other day
- 00:00:42on that session but I wanted to play it
- 00:00:43again today at who's got my money
- 00:00:45because I think that we stand at a great
- 00:00:48opportunity right now as we head into
- 00:00:51fundraising season so I think that very
- 00:00:55often we don't look at the situation
- 00:00:57where we realize how much we can
- 00:00:59actually do to affect the outcome how
- 00:01:02much it absolutely can be you that can
- 00:01:05be the one that gets funded welcome
- 00:01:07welcome Sit Close guys
- 00:01:11so there was an individual named Mr
- 00:01:13Branch Ricky and he said that luck is
- 00:01:17the residue of design luck is the
- 00:01:20residue of design what do you guys think
- 00:01:23that actually means luck is the residue
- 00:01:25of design now Branch might not be
- 00:01:28somebody you remember but he did do
- 00:01:30something very significant that changed
- 00:01:32the face I think of the United States in
- 00:01:33certain ways and certainly of the sport
- 00:01:35that he was a part of which is Major
- 00:01:37League Baseball he was the one that made
- 00:01:39and took an enormous risk and signed a
- 00:01:42baseball player named Jackie Robinson
- 00:01:45and he said in
- 00:01:461946 that luck is the residue of
- 00:01:50design luck is the residue of design was
- 00:01:53also said by Mr John Milton in
- 00:01:5716008 it was true in 16008 was true in
- 00:02:001946 and it's true today luck is the
- 00:02:03residue of design so this idea that we
- 00:02:07can design things and that we can
- 00:02:09actually be intentional about how we
- 00:02:11live our lives how we build our Ventures
- 00:02:14and how intentional we are about the
- 00:02:16design of our fundraise strategy the way
- 00:02:19that we approach that for many people
- 00:02:21it's this halfhazard super casual like I
- 00:02:24know some angels and maybe I'm going to
- 00:02:26hit up some family you know friends you
- 00:02:28know that kind of thing it's very casual
- 00:02:30approach and so one of the things we try
- 00:02:32to do at Fusion 42 which is our online
- 00:02:34community with pairing and matching
- 00:02:36technology backend is to get Founders to
- 00:02:39understand that they are the X Factor in
- 00:02:41their business and that 80% of what
- 00:02:43they're going to experience is going to
- 00:02:44come down to their design how
- 00:02:46intentional are they about their
- 00:02:48approach to their go-to Market strategy
- 00:02:49to how they collect client feedback to
- 00:02:53how they recruit how they hire and also
- 00:02:56obviously to the topic at hand today and
- 00:02:57who's got my money about about how they
- 00:03:00approach their fund raise and this is a
- 00:03:01reason why even though many of you if
- 00:03:03you're studied startups you hear this
- 00:03:05concept of go-to Market which is I think
- 00:03:08the most significant thing that Founders
- 00:03:10miss when they are going to build their
- 00:03:12company goto Market literally helps to
- 00:03:14dictate whether or not you have a
- 00:03:16marketable which is to say Market ready
- 00:03:19Venture Market ready Ventures usually
- 00:03:21either get revenue or they get revenue
- 00:03:24and they
- 00:03:26raise so this is the thing that Founders
- 00:03:28think that they can skip in this attempt
- 00:03:31to go towards raising and so design I
- 00:03:34think is this thing that we can think
- 00:03:35about are we just trying to do things by
- 00:03:37default or are we actually trying to do
- 00:03:38things by Design and what does that make
- 00:03:41a difference for as we build somebody
- 00:03:44else that was pretty cool in the way
- 00:03:45that he built some things said that luck
- 00:03:47is where Readiness which goes back to
- 00:03:50the design piece meets
- 00:03:54opportunity and this was a gentleman uh
- 00:03:56by the name of Yuri Levine and he
- 00:03:58created a little app that we call
- 00:04:00ways how many of you guys have used ways
- 00:04:03how many of you guys know that was one
- 00:04:04of the first billion dooll unicorns and
- 00:04:07this guy's already created a few more so
- 00:04:09one of the things that you guys will get
- 00:04:11to have at the end of the session you
- 00:04:12want to come hang out in the uh telegram
- 00:04:15group that we have on Fusion I will make
- 00:04:16the audio book which is called fall in
- 00:04:19love with the problem not the solution
- 00:04:21fall in love with the problem not the
- 00:04:22solution again this is an intentional
- 00:04:24design decision that we make a lot of
- 00:04:27times Founders are so in love with their
- 00:04:28product they want to build their product
- 00:04:29product that they're too afraid to sell
- 00:04:32they don't think that I need to sell the
- 00:04:34solution before I actually go and build
- 00:04:37it which means you need to understand
- 00:04:40the problem first before you can then go
- 00:04:42build it and Founders don't do this they
- 00:04:44they love to go into their little
- 00:04:45workshop and go build something without
- 00:04:48actually checking what the market
- 00:04:49response is this is the reason why GTM
- 00:04:51is so critical and Yuri the reason I
- 00:04:54Yuri's an impressive individual is he's
- 00:04:55probably on his way to his fourth
- 00:04:57billion dollar company
- 00:05:00the first one took him seven year uh
- 00:05:02just under six years the next one took
- 00:05:04him four years and he's got a few more
- 00:05:07in the hopper his last one was in 2020 I
- 00:05:09think his first one I can't remember
- 00:05:10when the exit was uh for ways Google was
- 00:05:13the one that bought him Google came to
- 00:05:14him first they rejected the offer Google
- 00:05:17came back a couple years later billion
- 00:05:19and a half exit and immediately he left
- 00:05:21that and said it's time to start
- 00:05:22something new and his book actually
- 00:05:24breaks down this process and he really
- 00:05:26tries to hammer home the importance of
- 00:05:29that luck is not just this luck thing
- 00:05:31guys this is a repeatable pattern one of
- 00:05:33the things that we talk about when we
- 00:05:35break down capital is that there is a
- 00:05:38way you can rig the game for the success
- 00:05:39of your venture capital is not the be
- 00:05:42all end all it's not going to save your
- 00:05:43startup one investor is not going to
- 00:05:44save your startup we cover that here at
- 00:05:46these sessions but capital is the rocket
- 00:05:49fuel to the raw resources and the source
- 00:05:52that you show up as as the founder and
- 00:05:54so I want you guys to start thinking
- 00:05:56about luck in a very different way yes
- 00:05:59there's a huge amount of luck I I don't
- 00:06:01know what I did to be born in the United
- 00:06:02States at this time as a Founder to be
- 00:06:05able to create businesses I got lucky
- 00:06:07right however if luck is really when
- 00:06:11Readiness which is something you do
- 00:06:13control meets opportunity will you be
- 00:06:16ready so back to the Journey song you
- 00:06:18know how many of you guys are going to
- 00:06:19be able to say yeah it was me it wasn't
- 00:06:21it could have been me it actually was me
- 00:06:23I was ready at the time I happen to be
- 00:06:25in the elevator with a certain
- 00:06:27individual and they happen to know the
- 00:06:28right fun then brought a bunch of their
- 00:06:30funer buddies along right these are the
- 00:06:32kinds of things that Founders are just I
- 00:06:34will just say this in general as as
- 00:06:36we're building a funding platform to
- 00:06:37automate the fundraising process it does
- 00:06:40not tend to occur to Founders that
- 00:06:41they're the problem very often to their
- 00:06:44own success this is a good problem to
- 00:06:46have Founders because if you're not the
- 00:06:48reason that you're most likely to not be
- 00:06:50successful you also can't be the
- 00:06:51solution of why you're most likely to be
- 00:06:54successful so put it another way if if I
- 00:06:58were to give a bunch of investor
- 00:07:00referrals to a Founder that's not ready
- 00:07:02mentally which we spend a bunch of time
- 00:07:03in the fundraising fluency sessions on
- 00:07:06Tuesdays online breaking down the money
- 00:07:09raising mindset and energy we need to
- 00:07:11have the 80% that we need to bring to
- 00:07:13the table and then the rest is all
- 00:07:14mechanics 20% of like how do we do it
- 00:07:18and and Yuri in his book is going to
- 00:07:19break down how much you must be obsessed
- 00:07:22with the the problem you're solving you
- 00:07:25can't stop thinking about it you're
- 00:07:26ready to burn the ships at the shore
- 00:07:28you're not going to worry about income
- 00:07:29all these other things that are very
- 00:07:31legitimate concerns but really when a
- 00:07:33startup founder has really decided they
- 00:07:35made a choice they they can't stop right
- 00:07:38so these are things that we often don't
- 00:07:41really tend to give enough weight to in
- 00:07:43my opinion so when we're building a
- 00:07:44funding platform I could give all sorts
- 00:07:46of investor leads to individuals and
- 00:07:48they're almost never ready for them
- 00:07:50they're not ready for the introductions
- 00:07:52they're not ready to pitch and there's
- 00:07:53really two major components that are
- 00:07:55missing there's the market Readiness
- 00:07:57which is where Founders should spend the
- 00:07:58majority of their time time and then
- 00:08:00there's the financial literacy and the
- 00:08:02capital and raise ready side of it which
- 00:08:05we also address in depth in the sessions
- 00:08:07and online in the telegram chats with
- 00:08:09all the Champions that are experts on
- 00:08:11different
- 00:08:11topics you know Founders usually just
- 00:08:14want you to hand them somebody and they
- 00:08:16don't realize how far away they are from
- 00:08:18being fundable as a result you can get
- 00:08:20occasionally as we say in another way
- 00:08:23the different kind of Lucky but is that
- 00:08:25the kind of lucky you want to be or do
- 00:08:26you want to be the kind of Lucky where
- 00:08:27you literally designed this to happen
- 00:08:30this is just an
- 00:08:32eventuality another interesting
- 00:08:34entrepreneur that really changed the way
- 00:08:36we look at manufacturing processes how
- 00:08:38many of you guys know who Michael Dell
- 00:08:40is Michael Dell Dell computers so they
- 00:08:43had this really s you know sophisticated
- 00:08:46you know business plan that they were
- 00:08:47going to write up many of you guys
- 00:08:48noticed that I don't use a lot of
- 00:08:51backing stuff or whatever because at the
- 00:08:52end of the day that's not what really
- 00:08:54matters you know when you go to
- 00:08:55fundraise fundraising is a full contact
- 00:08:57sport so we can talk about Theory and
- 00:09:00have nice diagrams and all that stuff
- 00:09:01but at the end of the day it's really
- 00:09:02more the energy behind it so Michael
- 00:09:04Dell's in there and this is actually
- 00:09:05talked about in Yuri's book as well it's
- 00:09:07worth kind of looking at in more depth
- 00:09:09than he covers in the book uh but it's a
- 00:09:11good reminder that he's got in the book
- 00:09:13uh is that Michael Dell says okay so
- 00:09:16they he puts it on the screen here's
- 00:09:18here's our here's our plan we're going
- 00:09:20to build
- 00:09:21computers we're going to sell them done
- 00:09:25now who could tell me what might have
- 00:09:27gotten switched in this
- 00:09:29who can tell me maybe what was wrong
- 00:09:32with this particular plan put the GTM
- 00:09:35first GTM first you yeah I problem like
- 00:09:39why makes special right so we had one
- 00:09:42person said either because he's
- 00:09:44listening or he already knew the answer
- 00:09:46uh he didn't put the GTM first so
- 00:09:48Michael Dell changed it he got it and he
- 00:09:51said no what we're going to do is we're
- 00:09:53going to sell computers then we're going
- 00:09:56to build
- 00:09:58them do you see how that little switch
- 00:10:01made them a billion doll company here's
- 00:10:03why how many of you guys know what
- 00:10:04justtin time manufacturing is okay great
- 00:10:08A lot of people are familiar I'm not a
- 00:10:10manufacturing guy I'm not really a
- 00:10:12technical guy when it comes to a lot of
- 00:10:13that stuff but here's what Justin Time
- 00:10:15Manufacturing means is that you have the
- 00:10:18processes you have the systems so dialed
- 00:10:20in that the minute you get the order is
- 00:10:23when you start producing and creating
- 00:10:24the finished good product now I don't
- 00:10:27know that Dell was the first company to
- 00:10:28do this but they were we're certainly
- 00:10:29the first company to do it in the
- 00:10:31commuter space and that little thing
- 00:10:34think about that we're going to build
- 00:10:39computers and we're going to sell them
- 00:10:41get switched to and this is a design
- 00:10:43decision right think about the
- 00:10:44intentionality of it we're going to sell
- 00:10:48computers and then we're going to build
- 00:10:50them think about the efficiency this
- 00:10:53creates think about the margins this
- 00:10:54creates think about the listening to the
- 00:10:56customers that this creates
- 00:10:59think about how powerful that is and
- 00:11:01this is the reason why Michael Dell is a
- 00:11:03billionaire so I mentioned that we're
- 00:11:05going to be running uh some events uh
- 00:11:07here in the future as we always do at
- 00:11:08Venture house and all that Venture
- 00:11:10Studio Summit some family office events
- 00:11:12I actually went and looked at a hotel
- 00:11:15that I decided would be a great location
- 00:11:17to do a family office event Michael Dell
- 00:11:19owns the place it's massive it's on the
- 00:11:22water it's gorgeous beautiful it's old
- 00:11:24probably 100 years
- 00:11:25old and uh you know these are the kinds
- 00:11:28of things you get to do when you go from
- 00:11:29being a Founder to a fun and as you guys
- 00:11:33know founder funders are really our
- 00:11:34North Star a fusion that is what we're
- 00:11:36focused on creating how to Founders go
- 00:11:39build their companies get resourced up
- 00:11:41and exit their companies so that they
- 00:11:43can repeat it again I had an interesting
- 00:11:44conversation with a new friend of mine
- 00:11:46earlier today who moved to this country
- 00:11:48from another country got to love those
- 00:11:49immigrant entrepreneurs they're freaking
- 00:11:51badass aren't they and he had an exit
- 00:11:54from a company that you guys would know
- 00:11:57Roblox and he is now now Angel Investing
- 00:12:01he's investing in other models he's
- 00:12:03looking at different models this is the
- 00:12:05kind of opportunity that you get when
- 00:12:07you live your life by Design and I find
- 00:12:10that he's extremely high learner so I'm
- 00:12:12like why are you asking me and and Derek
- 00:12:15my partner um all of these questions
- 00:12:17about capital and what is it that you
- 00:12:19find interesting about the pitch Kung Fu
- 00:12:20sessions and everything else and his
- 00:12:22response was is I just feel that there's
- 00:12:24always more that I can learn and I think
- 00:12:26that's again an an intelligent design
- 00:12:30decision so getting back into the
- 00:12:33intention of things how often do you
- 00:12:34guys recognize the major things that are
- 00:12:36going to make up your ability to raise
- 00:12:39for your company and raising for your
- 00:12:40company as we talk about the capital
- 00:12:42macros how many of you guys like Fitness
- 00:12:44you guys know what the food macros are
- 00:12:45right different types of food that we
- 00:12:47can eat there's Capital macros too the
- 00:12:49one we always think about as far as
- 00:12:51capital is dollar Capital that's the the
- 00:12:53currency that comes into our business
- 00:12:56but how often do we think about the one
- 00:12:58that's probably most most important if
- 00:12:59we're going to have a business at all
- 00:13:01which is our sales and client Capital
- 00:13:03this is our ability to acquire users and
- 00:13:05then third we have what we call human
- 00:13:09capital which is probably the most
- 00:13:11important thing in the business long
- 00:13:12term you don't see billion dollar
- 00:13:14companies without amazing teams and how
- 00:13:16good are you as a Founder at being able
- 00:13:18to recruit and I think your
- 00:13:20intentionality and your energy dictates
- 00:13:22whether or not you'll attract Capital
- 00:13:24whether or not you know how to acquire
- 00:13:25clients and customers which needs to
- 00:13:27come first and third whether or not
- 00:13:28you're going to build a team that's
- 00:13:30badass and for those of you guys that
- 00:13:32don't know your go-to talent strategy
- 00:13:34needs to be really robust because you're
- 00:13:36in an allout war with other companies
- 00:13:38and other startups for getting the best
- 00:13:39talent into your Venture okay today we
- 00:13:43decided we're going to do something a
- 00:13:44little bit different we're going to do
- 00:13:45quite a bit of AMA ask me anything which
- 00:13:48we also have a channel inside of the
- 00:13:49telegram group where you guys can come
- 00:13:51in real time and get real feedback on
- 00:13:53what you're working on what you're
- 00:13:54confused about whether it's legal we
- 00:13:56have a really robust AI channel for any
- 00:13:58of you guys that are confused about AI
- 00:14:00we have Financial modeling and there's
- 00:14:02Channel champions in each of these
- 00:14:03channels that are willing to make time
- 00:14:06to give you a real time feedback which I
- 00:14:08think how many of you guys like to save
- 00:14:09time as you're already feeling like this
- 00:14:11is a pretty difficult process to build a
- 00:14:12startup the other thing is we have
- 00:14:14horizontal if that's a vertical track we
- 00:14:16have horizontal tracks where we have
- 00:14:17content in each of these channels on a
- 00:14:20rotation six weeks every 3 months those
- 00:14:22kinds of things okay so what we said we
- 00:14:25were going to do is ask me
- 00:14:26anything if you guys have a really short
- 00:14:29question um we can handle that there but
- 00:14:32if you guys want to you can come up here
- 00:14:33and you're going to tell everyone what
- 00:14:34you're building very succinctly you're
- 00:14:36going to you're going to explain it in
- 00:14:37two to three sentences no more and then
- 00:14:39we're going to get into your questions
- 00:14:40so who feels like they're ready ready
- 00:14:42for that experience T want to come up
- 00:14:45and then you Mr GTM we we'll be on deck
- 00:14:49make sure that you guys have your
- 00:14:50questions prepared and that you've
- 00:14:51thought through how you're going to
- 00:14:52announce what your building what's
- 00:14:53you're intending to the universe all
- 00:14:56right Mr to good to see you again good
- 00:14:57to see you thank you
- 00:14:59it's on we we're building um we're
- 00:15:01developing a test cancer screen test for
- 00:15:03women that is faster better and
- 00:15:05affordable awesome what are your
- 00:15:07questions let's do it uh in terms of
- 00:15:09convertible note
- 00:15:11mm or or valuation cap let's talk
- 00:15:15valuation cap is that is that a
- 00:15:17pre-money valuation why it's not on it's
- 00:15:20on it's just
- 00:15:22recording yeah is
- 00:15:27that is evalu cap pre-market I I mean
- 00:15:32pre money or is it post money what what
- 00:15:35does investors look at it uh well you
- 00:15:37you can decide but for them they you
- 00:15:40know it depends on what they want it
- 00:15:42that's a situational okay so let's let's
- 00:15:45break this down for everybody everybody
- 00:15:46know what a convertible note is
- 00:15:48convertible note is one of the
- 00:15:50structures you can use to raise it's a
- 00:15:52legal document essentially in an
- 00:15:53agreement and it is essentially a debt
- 00:15:56instrument that can convert into equity
- 00:15:59now one thing I'll mention as we
- 00:16:00mentioned on the last call is is that
- 00:16:02there are seasons something else I
- 00:16:04forgot to mention here in this room is
- 00:16:06we are heading into fundraising season
- 00:16:08which is the reason why we're doing the
- 00:16:09session we are doing this way today
- 00:16:12fundraising season the second
- 00:16:13fundraising season in the United States
- 00:16:15which is responsible for 65% plus of all
- 00:16:19available capital for Venture in the
- 00:16:21world is open from Labor Day weekend
- 00:16:25after that to Thanksgiving so it's
- 00:16:29really important that if you guys are
- 00:16:30serious about learning this and you're
- 00:16:32serious about having a pitch Blitz that
- 00:16:34you start getting prepared and you start
- 00:16:36showing up at the sessions and those
- 00:16:37kinds of things to be ready for it the
- 00:16:38other fundraising season is January to
- 00:16:40the end of May so summertime is not
- 00:16:43usually an ideal time to raise unless
- 00:16:45you're going after alternative Capital
- 00:16:47traditional capital is all the capital
- 00:16:49types that you're already aware of
- 00:16:50you've already heard of it friends and
- 00:16:52family money Angel Money VCS that's all
- 00:16:54traditional money most of them are
- 00:16:55checked out and most families period
- 00:16:58most Banks most everything they're
- 00:17:00completely not thinking about investment
- 00:17:02during the summer I even have a very
- 00:17:04large funer that came to me that wants
- 00:17:06to back more of the stuff that we're
- 00:17:07building and he just called it out as it
- 00:17:09was he goes look I'm super interested uh
- 00:17:11I think we need to work together but
- 00:17:12just know I'm on vacation mode all over
- 00:17:15the planet with my kids until September
- 00:17:18right okay the other thing I was going
- 00:17:20to mention with seasons is that when
- 00:17:22money is
- 00:17:23cheap you end up having Pro founder
- 00:17:26agreements that are more common
- 00:17:28agreements being the legal structure or
- 00:17:30the entity that you raise inside of
- 00:17:32we'll get into that in a second when
- 00:17:33money is more expensive which we're in
- 00:17:35an environment now where money is a
- 00:17:37little bit more expensive and it will
- 00:17:38probably stay that way for the
- 00:17:39foreseeable future the funders tend to
- 00:17:42have a little bit more of the upper hand
- 00:17:44so we just went through a 15-year period
- 00:17:46where you kind of didn't have to be a
- 00:17:48genius to do pretty well in a lot of the
- 00:17:50markets because they were uptrending
- 00:17:52this also includes what the individual
- 00:17:54ultra high Networth check writers were
- 00:17:56doing many of them got a little bit of
- 00:17:58an attitude a little bit of some
- 00:17:59confidence because they're like oh I
- 00:18:02don't need support services I don't need
- 00:18:04people that are veterans and Venture
- 00:18:05because I'm doing so well as an LP
- 00:18:07limited partner inside of a fund but now
- 00:18:12the emperor is being shown to not have
- 00:18:13clothes as many VCS are being exposed
- 00:18:17for the lack of performance in their
- 00:18:19funds because they made dumb bets or
- 00:18:22they got involved in crypto at the wrong
- 00:18:23time for the wrong reasons I'm I'm Pro
- 00:18:25blockchain in general but getting
- 00:18:27involved in something just cuz it's a
- 00:18:28fad here's here's speaking to you AI is
- 00:18:31not really a great you know investment
- 00:18:34thesis I believe that AI is the most
- 00:18:35significant technology that we've seen
- 00:18:38since the internet if not more it's
- 00:18:40moving that fast it's already changed
- 00:18:41the world and if you're not taking it
- 00:18:43seriously which is the reason we've
- 00:18:44devoted a whole channel to breaking down
- 00:18:46the speed at which it's moving you're
- 00:18:48not taking things seriously but you
- 00:18:49can't just show up and say I'm an AI
- 00:18:51startup and that that's going to get you
- 00:18:53funded there is a lot of fomo fear of
- 00:18:56missing out going on as often there is
- 00:18:58uh with VC
- 00:18:59with AI but you have to explain how it's
- 00:19:02actually an enormous part of what you're
- 00:19:04building and in general it shouldn't
- 00:19:07really be a feature it should just be
- 00:19:08part of the way you're creating the
- 00:19:11solution for the problem that you've so
- 00:19:13well researched so coming back to
- 00:19:15agreements during a high pro- founder
- 00:19:18environment safe agreements which is a
- 00:19:21convertible note that's even safer for
- 00:19:24the founder uh were very big but in
- 00:19:27general a funer has to be pretty
- 00:19:30motivated to do a safe because they are
- 00:19:33absolutely not in the funders best
- 00:19:36interest because the founder can
- 00:19:38basically just convert it to debt and
- 00:19:40then then the and the funer never gets
- 00:19:41equity and very few Venture related
- 00:19:44investers actually want just debt
- 00:19:46interest rates they want the big pop
- 00:19:49because they're going to wait several
- 00:19:50years for this to come into something
- 00:19:53right convertible notes are a little bit
- 00:19:55simpler because they're actually a
- 00:19:56little bit more on the pro funder site
- 00:19:58of things where they have a little bit
- 00:19:59more control his other question is do I
- 00:20:02do pre and post money uh you know
- 00:20:05situation we actually just did a whole
- 00:20:07legal session on this that will break
- 00:20:08this down in way more depth this week uh
- 00:20:11with one of our legal experts and
- 00:20:12there's even diagrams inside the legal
- 00:20:15channel on telegram that break down the
- 00:20:17the differences between post money and
- 00:20:20pre-money think of it this way though if
- 00:20:23a because if this is a piece of real
- 00:20:25estate the sellers on one end they want
- 00:20:28the most price right and the buyer wants
- 00:20:31the the lower price right this is the
- 00:20:33same thing when you're dealing with a
- 00:20:34venture investor the founder wants to
- 00:20:37sell their stock at the highest price
- 00:20:39possible which is the highest valuation
- 00:20:41possible right and I know you know this
- 00:20:43the uh funer on the other hand would
- 00:20:45love to buy a cheap investment where
- 00:20:48they feel that the stock that they're
- 00:20:50buying and investing in is undervalued
- 00:20:52they get they're getting the investment
- 00:20:54so another kind of tip to just mention
- 00:20:55the higher your valuation is in the
- 00:20:57preed and Seed range especially before
- 00:21:00you're producing product Market fit and
- 00:21:02you have clients and you have Revenue
- 00:21:04the more scared an investor is going to
- 00:21:05be to get involved because they're
- 00:21:07buying an expensive which is to say
- 00:21:09maybe pre uh much more than five six s
- 00:21:13million in in the preed and sometimes
- 00:21:16even seed round goes up a little bit you
- 00:21:18start having investors say this is
- 00:21:20actually kind of expensive like if this
- 00:21:21doesn't work out because if they get
- 00:21:24involved at 4 million versus 7 million
- 00:21:26you see the difference they're going to
- 00:21:28make a much better return at a at a
- 00:21:30lower rate now we need to also know what
- 00:21:33the the uh percentage of stock they're
- 00:21:35getting for their investment in order to
- 00:21:37really calculate these numbers but they
- 00:21:39want something that's post money they
- 00:21:42don't usually want something that's
- 00:21:43pre-money the founders want it to be
- 00:21:45pre-money look at that
- 00:21:48smile so so if if there's more questions
- 00:21:51you have on this I just want to make
- 00:21:52sure everybody's on the same page well
- 00:21:53convertible would have provision where
- 00:21:55you can actually buy down the debt and
- 00:21:57not convert to equity so this is the
- 00:21:59reason I bring up real estate because
- 00:22:00real estate is all a negotiation a
- 00:22:04building is literally worth what
- 00:22:05somebody's willing to buy for it pay for
- 00:22:07it so if you can get somebody to buy uh
- 00:22:10to if you can get somebody to sell you a
- 00:22:12building for a dollar in a contract you
- 00:22:14have a deal so coming back to venture
- 00:22:16guys it's a negotiation and the first
- 00:22:19major investor that comes and does maybe
- 00:22:21that has Brand recognition that comes
- 00:22:22and does their due diligence will be
- 00:22:25typically the lead investor and that's
- 00:22:26called pricing the round what they de
- 00:22:28side what you guys negotiate together is
- 00:22:30the valuation that they're putting their
- 00:22:32money in at tends to be the the the
- 00:22:35moving valuation for the company and
- 00:22:36then all the other investors will follow
- 00:22:38suit and there's many investors you guys
- 00:22:39will find that don't invest at all until
- 00:22:44there's a lead or recognizable or brand
- 00:22:47investor that's already involved that
- 00:22:48did the due diligence they're following
- 00:22:50them in and this is really annoying to
- 00:22:52us as founders of course because it is
- 00:22:54hard to sometimes find that lead
- 00:22:56investor that will take the chance um
- 00:22:59and you know there's all sorts of
- 00:23:00reasons why funders do this go Ahad CL
- 00:23:02clarification so if you're doing a first
- 00:23:04round AN unpriced round yeah with a
- 00:23:06convertible yeah with the provision you
- 00:23:08can buy down the debt or pay off the
- 00:23:10debt so so so the along those lines is
- 00:23:14how important is valuation number should
- 00:23:17an investor ask because it's not a price
- 00:23:19round however on the option pool side
- 00:23:22you may be doing a
- 00:23:24409 for the grants now can you defer
- 00:23:27those grants but important is this this
- 00:23:30is where the negotiation comes in it
- 00:23:33really is going to come down to the
- 00:23:34investor the lead investor in particular
- 00:23:37and then of course some of the other
- 00:23:38investors have to be on board as well
- 00:23:40because they're going to follow in and
- 00:23:41this is where I would say having the
- 00:23:43right legal that understands these types
- 00:23:46of transactions that actually does these
- 00:23:47types of transactions and that in real
- 00:23:49time I can give you like what can be
- 00:23:52generally true as I am already and
- 00:23:54explaining it to everyone here but it is
- 00:23:57going to come down to the situation like
- 00:23:58there I'll give you an example when we
- 00:24:00were doing Venture debt we wouldn't
- 00:24:02really try to so when you do Venture
- 00:24:04debt there's a couple of different
- 00:24:05things that can happen but it's
- 00:24:06essentially it's it's it's debt so we
- 00:24:08would look for companies that were doing
- 00:24:09a million dollar run rate and we would
- 00:24:11come in and we'd say look we're going to
- 00:24:12give you 300 Grand upwards of a million
- 00:24:14dollars whatever it is and then we're
- 00:24:16going to agree on what your company is
- 00:24:19at the minute we give you the money and
- 00:24:21then we are going to have golden tickets
- 00:24:23we're going to have warrants which is an
- 00:24:24option to buy the stock at a later date
- 00:24:26and time right like you would in real
- 00:24:28estate an option to buy it and then we
- 00:24:30agree but in but in order for this
- 00:24:32negotiation to finish we have to agree
- 00:24:34on a number that we think the company's
- 00:24:35worth because if we if we we uh Venture
- 00:24:38debt at 10 million and through the
- 00:24:41shared efforts of both the funding team
- 00:24:43and the founder and their team in a
- 00:24:45couple years let's say under five years
- 00:24:47are going to get to 100
- 00:24:49million that's a good chunk of
- 00:24:52difference in the valuation of the
- 00:24:53company so we have an option to buy the
- 00:24:55stock at a late dat and time but it's at
- 00:24:57a pre-agreed price you said Venture debt
- 00:25:00is it
- 00:25:00convertible uh not usually can be it t
- 00:25:04depends on the agreement it depends on
- 00:25:05what we negotiate the reason I bring it
- 00:25:07up is because it really is that
- 00:25:12variable and I was just explaining the
- 00:25:14importance of that valuation being
- 00:25:16agreed upon because it changes the
- 00:25:18nature of the deal and it changes the
- 00:25:19incentives in the deal so a great
- 00:25:21funders is going to know that we need to
- 00:25:23make sure we Le leave enough equity on
- 00:25:25the table that the founding team is is
- 00:25:27is motivated through every round because
- 00:25:29every round a fun founder is going to
- 00:25:31get uh you know they're they're going to
- 00:25:33get diluted and so will the the early
- 00:25:35funders right the the value of their
- 00:25:38stock per Stock's going to rise though
- 00:25:39so that that tends to be the balance but
- 00:25:41there's always a negotiation with that
- 00:25:43and on the on the uh Venture debt side
- 00:25:46there was two parts that we wanted first
- 00:25:48we wanted our interest rate which we
- 00:25:50always got but the thing we were most
- 00:25:52excited about is we really wanted the
- 00:25:55company to be very successful because if
- 00:25:58they did 100 million we just got $100
- 00:26:00million worth of value stock for a $10
- 00:26:04million price now we still have to bring
- 00:26:06the physical dollars to the founder at
- 00:26:08the moment we decide to exercise that
- 00:26:10option so coming back to the convertible
- 00:26:12note situation is it really depends on
- 00:26:14the agreement and it depends on what you
- 00:26:16set up with that individual so what I'd
- 00:26:18recommend is is let's have a deeper
- 00:26:20conversation in telegram about it and
- 00:26:22kind of nerd out on it in there cool
- 00:26:24anything else I think that's that's it
- 00:26:26awesome all right who's next Mr GTM
- 00:26:29it is just a real newbie question you
- 00:26:32you toss the offer out for detailed
- 00:26:35opportunity yeah quick ones um so my
- 00:26:38question is uh how do you protect IP
- 00:26:40when you're just socializing the idea uh
- 00:26:43the question was how do you protect IP
- 00:26:45when you're socializing the idea uh my
- 00:26:47first response to that is you don't stop
- 00:26:49worrying about it what matters is your
- 00:26:51ability to execute on that idea in
- 00:26:53general okay this is what the typical VC
- 00:26:55Venture response would be now um and
- 00:26:59don't be a newbie and ask VCS to sign
- 00:27:01nnc's and ndas they won't we won't do it
- 00:27:04for the most part we don't need to uh
- 00:27:06ndas are more valuable when you have a
- 00:27:08company that's got $100 million in
- 00:27:09revenue and you want to see the profit
- 00:27:11and loss statements and the financials
- 00:27:12okay that's different right but in
- 00:27:14Venture uh ndas are almost never signed
- 00:27:17Founders spend entirely too much time
- 00:27:19focusing on the idea and not realizing
- 00:27:22the idea is worth nothing almost I don't
- 00:27:24want to be you know dismissive of any
- 00:27:27founder but at the end of the of the day
- 00:27:29it's the founder and the founding team's
- 00:27:31job to execute and to iterate another
- 00:27:34thing I bring up the design process when
- 00:27:36you're building a startup you're
- 00:27:38iterating if you're doing it right it
- 00:27:41gets better and better and better people
- 00:27:42say well why are you still building a
- 00:27:44funding platform because it takes a lot
- 00:27:46of time to iterate all the different
- 00:27:48steps in the chain most Founders don't
- 00:27:50realize all the things that have to be
- 00:27:51set up right in order for them to raise
- 00:27:54where it's a pattern where it's a system
- 00:27:57where it's designed instead is some
- 00:27:58halfhazard thing right so this is
- 00:28:00something that again people like
- 00:28:02Overlook when it comes to their idea is
- 00:28:05sure I could tell you I'm building a
- 00:28:06funding platform this is how we're doing
- 00:28:08it good luck trying to do it and the
- 00:28:10reason is is it requires an intimate
- 00:28:12knowledge of the
- 00:28:14transactions and I mean full contact
- 00:28:16like you're in the trenches doing them
- 00:28:18you see all the Haywire that can happen
- 00:28:20not just what you theorize or you see on
- 00:28:22a page right and then there's the
- 00:28:24relationship
- 00:28:25side fundraising is relationships
- 00:28:28recruiting is relationships getting
- 00:28:31clients is
- 00:28:32relationships and so a lot of the
- 00:28:34challenges Founders have with raising is
- 00:28:37is they don't have any access to Capital
- 00:28:39because a they don't know anyone that
- 00:28:41has it or B they don't know where the
- 00:28:43different types of capital are hiding
- 00:28:45out and how they move and how they talk
- 00:28:46to them so when we talk about
- 00:28:48fundraising season uh there are seasons
- 00:28:51like offseason where it might be
- 00:28:53actually the best time to approach uh a
- 00:28:55non-traditional check writer for the
- 00:28:57things that we talk about sponsored
- 00:28:58capital and raised Revenue which is
- 00:29:00where you're getting a check where it's
- 00:29:01not for equity and it's not for interest
- 00:29:03in your business you heard that right
- 00:29:05it's not for Equity or interest in your
- 00:29:06business those types of people if you
- 00:29:08build the relationship with them right
- 00:29:10you can get a call during the summer
- 00:29:12that could very much lead to getting
- 00:29:14some of the funding that you need if you
- 00:29:16understand how to do Capital Discovery
- 00:29:17and to build the relationship with them
- 00:29:19right to find out what the trigger is
- 00:29:21that they're willing to write a check
- 00:29:23for right so uh week and a half ago one
- 00:29:26of my uh from college came and basically
- 00:29:30announced hey look I used the narrative
- 00:29:31that you shared with me around sponsored
- 00:29:32capital and I was able to raise a couple
- 00:29:34million bucks from the people I was also
- 00:29:37doing my research from so he was going
- 00:29:39and doing the 100 client conversation
- 00:29:42conversation and literally one of those
- 00:29:44groups is like if you're building this I
- 00:29:45will fund it not Equity not debt so it's
- 00:29:49the reason we call it sponsored Capital
- 00:29:51this happened during the summer which is
- 00:29:53exactly what I just said is that's not
- 00:29:55fundraising season but sometimes when
- 00:29:57you're doing the alternative of track
- 00:29:58that is the best time to catch somebody
- 00:30:00cuz they're you know if if they're
- 00:30:02anything like me we're we're junkies as
- 00:30:04an investors we're deal guys and on top
- 00:30:06of it we love what we do we love what we
- 00:30:08build and so that's something to kind of
- 00:30:10consider as you're approaching the
- 00:30:13different aspect of what you're doing
- 00:30:14I'm not saying that sponsored capital is
- 00:30:16perfect and I'm not saying it's easy I
- 00:30:18have groups that have approached me to
- 00:30:20do stuff they came to me and it's still
- 00:30:22going to be on their timeline because
- 00:30:24they're writing large checks for
- 00:30:26different things right it's a it's cases
- 00:30:28it's a gift they Here's 2 million bucks
- 00:30:31because I want to see this outcome come
- 00:30:33into reality because I care about the
- 00:30:36impact this is going to have for female
- 00:30:37Founders or for Founders like some of
- 00:30:40the some of the groups really care about
- 00:30:41the work that we're doing here in Las
- 00:30:43Vegas to build up the Vegas Venture
- 00:30:45ecosystem um maybe they're Italian and
- 00:30:47they want to see Italian Founders I just
- 00:30:49got back from Italy and Greece right
- 00:30:51maybe they want to see Italian Founders
- 00:30:52get a chance it could be anything that
- 00:30:54they resonate with that is that they're
- 00:30:56partial to because they have that kind
- 00:30:58of money right so back to your question
- 00:31:01on IP look most of the time pitching you
- 00:31:03don't need to give away the secret sauce
- 00:31:06most of the time when you're sharing to
- 00:31:08get feedback you don't have to give that
- 00:31:09away either so if you're waiting to do
- 00:31:12that you're making a huge mistake
- 00:31:14because what's more valuable than
- 00:31:15protecting the IP is the iterative
- 00:31:17process of it got better and better it
- 00:31:19started as an ugly baby and now it's
- 00:31:22actually maturing into a really gorgeous
- 00:31:24child because we've done that process
- 00:31:27right ises that make sense is that
- 00:31:28helpful yes it is okay great so yeah
- 00:31:31don't be afraid to jump in the ring and
- 00:31:34this is the reason guys why we do pitch
- 00:31:36Kung Fu this is the reason why we have a
- 00:31:38place for Founders to get real-time
- 00:31:40feedback on what they're building and
- 00:31:41then to come back and this is even more
- 00:31:43importantly since that's only really
- 00:31:45once a week in Europe and once a week
- 00:31:47here in the United States is the danger
- 00:31:49room we have an entire place where
- 00:31:51Founders and funders can give advice
- 00:31:53back and forth to the founders as
- 00:31:54they're set setting up their pitches and
- 00:31:57I can't tell you how valuable that is
- 00:31:58this isn't just so that you're ready to
- 00:32:00raise this is maybe you're not even
- 00:32:01describing the problem you're trying to
- 00:32:03solve accurately we've had a bunch of
- 00:32:05Founders recently that think that
- 00:32:07they're describ like one guy shouldn't
- 00:32:08say too much he'll know who it is uh
- 00:32:11thought he was
- 00:32:13basically building a a retreat it's what
- 00:32:16it sounded like to everybody in another
- 00:32:18country but it wasn't even that at all
- 00:32:20it was a whole theraputic thing and just
- 00:32:23that's how bad the messaging was and so
- 00:32:25these are the kinds of things where
- 00:32:27unless you you have an opportunity to
- 00:32:29have a lot of at
- 00:32:31bats to pitch in a safe environment
- 00:32:34where people care that your Venture gets
- 00:32:36to move forward you know you're going to
- 00:32:38you're going to waste that opportunity
- 00:32:40in front of a a f a funer that might
- 00:32:42actually move the ball forward with you
- 00:32:44because you're not prepared and I think
- 00:32:46that the preparation thing is the thing
- 00:32:48I just can't say enough Founders are not
- 00:32:50and I am sympathetic and empathetic
- 00:32:53because fundraising is uh well as Yuri
- 00:32:56likes to say in the book it's like
- 00:32:57writing a roller coaster in the dark and
- 00:33:00we we all know how much fun that is okay
- 00:33:01next
- 00:33:02question all right you want to come up
- 00:33:05okay this is Miss Alicia Alicia Alicia I
- 00:33:09I screw it up all the time I apologize
- 00:33:12every time it's okay it's like we're
- 00:33:13like 10 times in now it's it's all right
- 00:33:15it's all right so my name's Alicia and I
- 00:33:18am building up are you sure it's not
- 00:33:19Alicia I know right my name is Alicia I
- 00:33:22know right my name's Alicia and I am
- 00:33:24building a platform that offers
- 00:33:25Community goods and services for the
- 00:33:27romantically brokenhearted and our
- 00:33:29Northstar is that we're on a mission to
- 00:33:31raise the vibration of Love on the
- 00:33:33planet before I get into my actual one
- 00:33:35thing I'll say is whether you like what
- 00:33:37she's up to whether you understand it or
- 00:33:39not and I don't know if you kind of
- 00:33:40stole this from me it's probably not
- 00:33:42because nothing's original these days
- 00:33:43but it's important to describe your
- 00:33:45Northstar to everybody there's a lot of
- 00:33:47stuff that we're doing over at Fusion
- 00:33:50there's a lot of things that we're up to
- 00:33:51we got community we have accelerator we
- 00:33:53have our fast which is fundraising as a
- 00:33:55service program which this is a
- 00:33:56FastTrack program you can come and do it
- 00:33:58yourself with us or you can have us kind
- 00:34:01of do it with you alongside of you and
- 00:34:02then we've got the whole machine
- 00:34:04learning backend pairing and matching
- 00:34:06thing that's quite complicated to build
- 00:34:09all of that doesn't matter at the end of
- 00:34:10the day I explain to people our
- 00:34:12Northstar is creating more Founders that
- 00:34:15become funders than anybody else and
- 00:34:17that gets a lot of attention and it gets
- 00:34:19supporters how many of you guys liked
- 00:34:21when you heard her say this is our
- 00:34:23Northstar this is our flag in the ground
- 00:34:26was that was that powerful for you guys
- 00:34:27awesome a continue awesome
- 00:34:29thanks okay cool so not so Shameless
- 00:34:31plug uh for Fusion 42 before I get to my
- 00:34:34question seriously though is that I
- 00:34:35found out about that group this group in
- 00:34:37I want to say February it was around the
- 00:34:38Super Bowl and I'll tell you it's been a
- 00:34:41slingshot in my opinion for like things
- 00:34:43that I've learned and things that when
- 00:34:45he was talking before about like making
- 00:34:47mistakes like it's better to get your
- 00:34:49reps in like offline before you actually
- 00:34:51screw things up in front of people that
- 00:34:53have the ability to write you a check
- 00:34:54not that you don't but to to have the
- 00:34:58support and see other people like even
- 00:35:00um T just now I he came up here and I
- 00:35:03was like oh you gave your description
- 00:35:05and I've seen you in our groups before
- 00:35:07and I actually just on the Fly shortened
- 00:35:09mine even more cuz I was like there's
- 00:35:12there's just opportunity building
- 00:35:13something quite Technical and we all
- 00:35:15know that when he first started
- 00:35:16explaining it it is because it's very
- 00:35:18exciting because it's changing lives
- 00:35:20totally it's too much right and the the
- 00:35:22rest of us that aren't medical experts
- 00:35:24don't always get it and you see how
- 00:35:26succiny is oh so much so that I was like
- 00:35:28I'm mine's still too long so yeah thanks
- 00:35:30for that and I and I just want to
- 00:35:31highlight like it's because T put in the
- 00:35:33work yeah really what we're providing is
- 00:35:35the gym environment for you guys to come
- 00:35:37you guys are going to do the work or not
- 00:35:38do the work that's going to determine by
- 00:35:40Design whether or not you're successful
- 00:35:43I can only do so much you know like a
- 00:35:45platform is not going to solve all your
- 00:35:46problems neither is a community neither
- 00:35:47is an accelerator isn't it interesting
- 00:35:50how the same founder can go through
- 00:35:51through the same experience and get
- 00:35:52funded and other Founders don't well
- 00:35:56what's the variable there if it's the
- 00:35:57same
- 00:35:58program which is awesome and I feel like
- 00:36:00you uh just read my question because uh
- 00:36:02we talk a lot that's okay we talk a lot
- 00:36:04about um what needs to like how we need
- 00:36:08to who we need to be to be the people
- 00:36:10that will be funded or that investors
- 00:36:12Will Will Believe in Us and I'm
- 00:36:14wondering if in fiveish sentence or less
- 00:36:17uh how would you how do you personally
- 00:36:20know when a Founder is ready and I have
- 00:36:22a followup question great um this is the
- 00:36:25thing that doesn't get addressed enough
- 00:36:27Founders don't spend enough time really
- 00:36:30asking themselves who do I get to be who
- 00:36:32am I
- 00:36:33becoming um and when you say was the
- 00:36:36question why is this how do you know how
- 00:36:39do I know
- 00:36:42um okay I'll give the gut answer and
- 00:36:44then I'll give the technical answer the
- 00:36:46gut answer is I always know uh there was
- 00:36:48a Founder that pitched two days ago it
- 00:36:50was not her best pitch we we called it
- 00:36:52out the first time she pitched it was
- 00:36:55awesome um and then I got messages from
- 00:36:58other investors in the room she doesn't
- 00:36:59even know this yet and they said that
- 00:37:01that g is going to make it there's just
- 00:37:02something in the Charisma there's
- 00:37:04something in the preparedness there's
- 00:37:05something in the between the first time
- 00:37:06she pitched and 90 days ago she's built
- 00:37:08a bunch of crap she was able to show up
- 00:37:10and Report hey we did this she she asked
- 00:37:13for feedback and we were not nice or
- 00:37:15we're unkind but not unkind she chook it
- 00:37:18on the chin and she was just like I I'm
- 00:37:20I'm going to work on those because she
- 00:37:21knows it's coming from a place of For
- 00:37:23the Love of startups right so that's the
- 00:37:25non-technical answer can I pop in on
- 00:37:27that one one of the other things that I
- 00:37:28feel like really helps when we're in
- 00:37:30these groups and in Fusion 42 and we're
- 00:37:32getting this feedback it's because we
- 00:37:34can identify with their Northstar that
- 00:37:36it makes it easier for us to take the
- 00:37:38feedback I feel like because we go oh
- 00:37:40the only reason you're telling that us
- 00:37:42that is because you care because you
- 00:37:43want us to succeed because we want to
- 00:37:45come back and be the the people who end
- 00:37:47up being the funders after we've
- 00:37:49successfully see Founders are crazy and
- 00:37:51I want I want the crazy innovators of
- 00:37:53the world the producers of the world
- 00:37:54that produce more than they consume I
- 00:37:56want I want them to be a successful as
- 00:37:58possible the things you guys are
- 00:37:59building matter and I don't want easy
- 00:38:03things to address which is your way of
- 00:38:05being which you completely control to
- 00:38:07get in the way of you getting where you
- 00:38:08need to go so the technical answer is we
- 00:38:11do two minute pitches at pitch Kung Fu
- 00:38:13we do them at our you know pitch uh
- 00:38:15poolside pitches that we do at Venture
- 00:38:16House all of our pitch events no matter
- 00:38:18where we do them investment week La etc
- 00:38:20etc and even online with the pitch Kung
- 00:38:22Fu sessions it's all based around a
- 00:38:24two-minute pitch that is by Design
- 00:38:28I've seen more pitches in my life than
- 00:38:30all of you guys in this room
- 00:38:32combined and then some so I know what
- 00:38:35works to make sure that other investors
- 00:38:37are like I want to hear more let's do
- 00:38:39this and I know what bores us to death
- 00:38:42and I know what gets other Founders
- 00:38:43excited if it's too much information
- 00:38:45other Founders can't even say hey I'm
- 00:38:47going to connect you to someone I know
- 00:38:49how to explain it because you were so
- 00:38:50elegent in your pitch so the two-minute
- 00:38:52pitch shows me almost everything I need
- 00:38:53to know their excitement their energy do
- 00:38:56they have the eye of the tiger you know
- 00:38:57those kinds of things and then just the
- 00:38:59last thing is like is there is there
- 00:39:02like a a studiousness there is there
- 00:39:04like a high learner I'm interested in
- 00:39:06learning I'll give an example Mr James
- 00:39:07here sitting in the front row he's been
- 00:39:10to a lot of freaking sessions with us a
- 00:39:12lot of it is repeat he learned it he got
- 00:39:14it the first time he used to be a
- 00:39:15consultant used to do turnarounds for
- 00:39:17companies I'm quite sure that the first
- 00:39:20time I said certain things he got it and
- 00:39:22then the second time he heard it if it
- 00:39:23was different from you know what most
- 00:39:25other people talk about when it comes to
- 00:39:26where's all Capital hiding out some of
- 00:39:28that was new but he's now heard it for
- 00:39:30like 15 different
- 00:39:32times he still shows up we have Founders
- 00:39:36that have come to these sessions that
- 00:39:37have had $300 million exits they've done
- 00:39:39it three times and they still show up
- 00:39:42you know so I think that that is very
- 00:39:44very very interesting because most
- 00:39:45Founders that have had exits they can't
- 00:39:47describe how they did it and they
- 00:39:49certainly could not describe and reverse
- 00:39:50engineer their funding process you know
- 00:39:52and so to me like that is what shows me
- 00:39:55somebody's really going to make it is
- 00:39:57because it's iteration they understand
- 00:40:00that there are certain things they're
- 00:40:01great at and there's other things that
- 00:40:02they're not and that iterative process
- 00:40:04of showing up and learning and hey I
- 00:40:06didn't quite get this or hey how did you
- 00:40:09describe that or how do I interface with
- 00:40:10this funer in this way should I hit them
- 00:40:12up for Capital right now should I wait
- 00:40:14you know all of those kinds of things
- 00:40:16they keep coming back and what do you do
- 00:40:18about a Founder that just keeps coming
- 00:40:20back you can't stop them you can't stop
- 00:40:22them it's so dope to me it's like uh
- 00:40:24repeatable luck by Design right like you
- 00:40:26just go I I want to be able to describe
- 00:40:28to other people how I let me tell you I
- 00:40:30just came back from
- 00:40:32Europe as many as you guys think as it's
- 00:40:34challenging here in the United States if
- 00:40:36you don't live in Silicon Valley New
- 00:40:37York and Boston woo there is an energy
- 00:40:40in the United States that everybody else
- 00:40:41recognizes this country was built on
- 00:40:43small business Enterprise you like it or
- 00:40:45don't like it if you don't like it you
- 00:40:46should leave first of all but just
- 00:40:49understand this country was built on a
- 00:40:50meritocracy of if you want to create it
- 00:40:52and you want to innovate it you can do
- 00:40:53it and that energy is just not the same
- 00:40:56in all other different part part of the
- 00:40:57world I'm I'm rooting for Founders
- 00:40:59everywhere for sure but I'm also
- 00:41:01grateful that we get to build here I
- 00:41:03just want to say that I don't care if
- 00:41:04people think that I shouldn't be
- 00:41:06patriotic or whatever there's a lot of
- 00:41:07challenges here in this country being an
- 00:41:09entrepreneur is not freaking one of them
- 00:41:11because we're here to solve problems
- 00:41:13make things happen make the world a
- 00:41:14better place and that's the reason why
- 00:41:16we get huge amounts of money in return
- 00:41:18and as some of my other big funders like
- 00:41:20to say being a Founder is a privilege
- 00:41:24you know being a Founder is a privilege
- 00:41:25like what place do we live in and time
- 00:41:27in history where we can go raise a bunch
- 00:41:29of money and we can lose it all and we
- 00:41:30can fail and they're like good you did
- 00:41:32it let's go see if we can go do it again
- 00:41:34when you're pitching and you haven't
- 00:41:35explained that you've had other startups
- 00:41:37whether they're successful or not you're
- 00:41:38missing out on an opportunity to say I
- 00:41:40have Battle Scars I have War wounds yeah
- 00:41:42there's I've been in the trenches I know
- 00:41:44what it's like to have bullets come
- 00:41:45flying by and I'm trying to raise and
- 00:41:47I'm trying to recruit and I'm trying to
- 00:41:48balance all this stuff and my
- 00:41:50significant others is upset and you know
- 00:41:53for sometimes for valid reasons right
- 00:41:55cuz the business is the new mistress or
- 00:41:57or mis and you know those kinds of
- 00:41:59things okay what's your follow on uh so
- 00:42:00my follow-up question has to do with you
- 00:42:02talk a lot about uh Market Readiness and
- 00:42:04if you could just talk about I don't
- 00:42:05know like I would imagine it's a little
- 00:42:07bit different for everyone but like
- 00:42:08three or five points that you look for
- 00:42:10that indicate that a Founder is Market
- 00:42:13ready uh so we were on a Latin American
- 00:42:16Venture Capital call bunch of VCS from
- 00:42:18Latin America and I'm very Pro Latin
- 00:42:20America um I look at like Latin America
- 00:42:24has so much opportunity because it's
- 00:42:25like what if what if they
- 00:42:27did actually operate a little bit more
- 00:42:30free market what if they did operate
- 00:42:31with a little bit more Republic uh
- 00:42:33Democratic principles whether you like
- 00:42:35the United States or not it has been the
- 00:42:37standard and the example for the entire
- 00:42:40world when it comes to entrepreneurship
- 00:42:41and how well it can work and lift people
- 00:42:43out of poverty I'm not saying it's
- 00:42:45perfect but South America is very very
- 00:42:48behind in that way and so I'm very
- 00:42:49excited to do something about it so
- 00:42:51somebody was on the call and they said
- 00:42:53oh uh you've been attending the sessions
- 00:42:55you know like know what do you think and
- 00:42:57they're like well Kurt's really firm
- 00:43:00he's really direct and I'm like yeah my
- 00:43:02job is to save you guys time I don't
- 00:43:04want you to have to go through the
- 00:43:05experiences that I've gone through as a
- 00:43:06founder and as a fun um so to me that's
- 00:43:10really the biggest thing that we're
- 00:43:12helping you guys with in general a great
- 00:43:14funer is going to look out for the
- 00:43:16founders and help try to build ecosystem
- 00:43:18and help to save them time because
- 00:43:19Founders don't have time and they really
- 00:43:20don't have money and so if you can
- 00:43:22appreciably guide them in the right
- 00:43:24direction I think that puts you in uh
- 00:43:27rarified air because Founders don't get
- 00:43:29that opportunity very few Founders get
- 00:43:31somebody that'll rig the game for their
- 00:43:32success and it's not happening it
- 00:43:34happens a lot more in the United States
- 00:43:36than it does in South America the the
- 00:43:38level of Education of the startup
- 00:43:40Founders is not nowhere close to where
- 00:43:42it is uh like we have Colombia Tech week
- 00:43:45next next week I love Colombia I'm super
- 00:43:47excited to serve the Colombian people um
- 00:43:50and to help them in any way I can um but
- 00:43:52there's Basics that we take for granted
- 00:43:54here just in our standard of living and
- 00:43:57everything else and the liquidity we
- 00:43:58have access to that that they don't even
- 00:44:00have you know like we're having a you
- 00:44:04may not feel like this is a very
- 00:44:05Advanced conversation for you guys um
- 00:44:08but this would be Japanese to most of
- 00:44:10them because they don't even have access
- 00:44:12to like even basic knowledge from
- 00:44:15startup land because it's never been
- 00:44:16converted to Spanish which is crazy
- 00:44:19because there's 600 million Spanish
- 00:44:20speakers that's well so uh can you
- 00:44:22reiterate your question again yeah sure
- 00:44:24so three to five uh points that you look
- 00:44:26for that signal that a Founder is is
- 00:44:29Market ready okay yeah that's where I
- 00:44:30was going with this um one of the things
- 00:44:32I love about the Latin American Founders
- 00:44:34is they're not afraid to freaking
- 00:44:38sell back to the example we're going to
- 00:44:41sell
- 00:44:42computers then we're going to build
- 00:44:45them I see way too many Founders that
- 00:44:49don't want to sell oh I don't know how
- 00:44:51to recruit or oh I don't want to I'm
- 00:44:53scared to pitch I'm scared to put my
- 00:44:55pitch up what are people going to say
- 00:44:57what if people kick the crap out of your
- 00:44:59pitch and it gets better right oh I
- 00:45:03don't have client conversations because
- 00:45:05you're afraid to sell everything that a
- 00:45:08Founder needs to do comes down to
- 00:45:10selling marketing is what gets the leads
- 00:45:12there it gets the interest in the
- 00:45:14attraction there but selling is where
- 00:45:15the rubber meets the road and so that
- 00:45:18for me is what I look for in a founder
- 00:45:20and we've broken down in the uh fundable
- 00:45:23versus bable versus bankable sessions
- 00:45:25that we've done the difference between a
- 00:45:28Founder that's willing to sell and not
- 00:45:30it's literally I think one of the
- 00:45:32biggest you know determins of your
- 00:45:33success and don't tell me you're an
- 00:45:35entrepreneur or that you're introverted
- 00:45:37and you don't sell okay fine don't be a
- 00:45:39founder and in the case of building
- 00:45:41platforms what is selling look like to
- 00:45:43you does that include like building
- 00:45:45weight lless until the platform's ready
- 00:45:47yeah so any way okay couple things so
- 00:45:50GTM does not mean you come up with the
- 00:45:52plan and you're done GTM means you're
- 00:45:54always planning you're always adjusting
- 00:45:56you're always taking feedback you got Mr
- 00:45:58Ben here is a marketer he'll tell you
- 00:45:59you're always a testing you're taking a
- 00:46:02and you're testing it against B and you
- 00:46:03always need to have different strategies
- 00:46:05of how you're going to get new clients
- 00:46:06how you're going to get new customers
- 00:46:07this is before you go raise people you
- 00:46:10need to be having as many conversations
- 00:46:12as possible so another example from the
- 00:46:14session the other day was hey even if
- 00:46:16you can say to a funer hey I don't have
- 00:46:18any Revenue you want to know what I do
- 00:46:20have I have 5,000 conversations I've
- 00:46:22tracked all of them here's all the data
- 00:46:24this is what they're saying and this is
- 00:46:26the B sized chunk that is true about 75%
- 00:46:29of them they're all saying this and this
- 00:46:31is the reason why I believe I found the
- 00:46:33niche and I found what it is that I know
- 00:46:35is the is the solution yeah because
- 00:46:37they're telling me their problem they're
- 00:46:39telling me their pain and so that's
- 00:46:41something else that I would just really
- 00:46:42emphasize is get early early early early
- 00:46:44early feedback so to put it in the uh
- 00:46:47the words of the individual that just
- 00:46:49raised a couple million bucks from
- 00:46:50sponsor capital is he never build
- 00:46:52something he hasn't sold first got to be
- 00:46:54able to sell it first got to be able to
- 00:46:55sell it first even when you got easy
- 00:46:58Capital like we went through this time
- 00:47:00period guys where people thought that
- 00:47:02they didn't need to sell because they
- 00:47:03could just get capital and how wrong
- 00:47:05they were and look at what's happened to
- 00:47:06their valuations they're doing down
- 00:47:08rounds which means their valuations like
- 00:47:10flat or lower than the one before that's
- 00:47:12super not good for anybody it sucks for
- 00:47:14the founder usually sucks for the
- 00:47:16funders and it's because people weren't
- 00:47:19selling early enough so I know you know
- 00:47:22we talk about Revenue all the time but
- 00:47:24Revenue solves a lot of problems and
- 00:47:27signals to the market and to funders
- 00:47:29that you're something that's worth
- 00:47:30investing in and making sure that you
- 00:47:32continue to grow so I didn't give you
- 00:47:33five because I think that is the five
- 00:47:36it's like it's it's that critical that's
- 00:47:38awesome okay thanks uh last thing and I
- 00:47:40will uh say a disclaimer on this Kurt
- 00:47:42didn't ask me to get up here and say any
- 00:47:43of this um but I believe that when you
- 00:47:46do well that people will naturally like
- 00:47:48be an evangelist like on your behalf and
- 00:47:50so one of the unique things about Fusion
- 00:47:5242 is that I think bernee Brown talks a
- 00:47:54lot about like only get advice from
- 00:47:56people who have earned the right to give
- 00:47:57it to you and I feel like one of the
- 00:47:58most important things about being in
- 00:48:00Fusion 42 is that it's not just funders
- 00:48:02it's not just Founders there's framers
- 00:48:03like the people that have the services
- 00:48:06the experts in the middle that help all
- 00:48:08of us show up better for each other and
- 00:48:10and as a community and so I just think
- 00:48:13uh L train of thought with that but
- 00:48:14there are all these people in this
- 00:48:16community and it's just a a really
- 00:48:18unique perspective and a unique place to
- 00:48:20uh be so I can't encourage people enough
- 00:48:22to come in there and just like let's
- 00:48:25effing do this yeah thank you so much
- 00:48:27appreciate that I'm glad it's working
- 00:48:28for you thanks awesome awesome who's
- 00:48:31next Who's Next she's got a question you
- 00:48:33going to come down or is it short uh you
- 00:48:36you first then you then you okay let's
- 00:48:39do it how's it going my name is Enrique
- 00:48:41uh my partner I started desert Moon
- 00:48:43mushrooms a mushroom farm okay um here
- 00:48:45in Vegas uh we want to raise money for
- 00:48:48the next step we are currently
- 00:48:51profitable um should we what's the
- 00:48:53profit margin you don't mind uh around
- 00:48:5520% okay
- 00:48:57um we need a lot of money to go to the
- 00:49:00next step is there any anything that
- 00:49:02you've identified or two or three things
- 00:49:03you've identified that that if
- 00:49:05implemented could immediately take that
- 00:49:07to like a 40 45% profit margin
- 00:49:11um uh produce more okay produce more
- 00:49:15product yeah more product like raw or
- 00:49:17finished uh I know that they're kind of
- 00:49:19raw but yeah they're pretty raw just
- 00:49:22packaging ready to go out the door we
- 00:49:23just need a a larger economies of scale
- 00:49:25okay and the the current acquisition
- 00:49:27strategy for the profitable you know
- 00:49:30clients that are buying how did you
- 00:49:32acquire those clients uh just by showing
- 00:49:34them our product it's really unique okay
- 00:49:36uh is there a more nuanced strategy that
- 00:49:38you have for that GTM than we're just
- 00:49:40showing them product um currently we
- 00:49:43always sell out so there's a lot of
- 00:49:44demand for it you know where I'm going
- 00:49:46with this okay keep going okay so my
- 00:49:48question is if we ask for money um would
- 00:49:53it be wrong like should we be raising
- 00:49:55money for like we want to own land to
- 00:49:58build it or is it is there interest in
- 00:50:00funders for that or is it typically
- 00:50:02they're going to only fund renting uh
- 00:50:04okay uh situational so two things first
- 00:50:07of all you need to find somebody that's
- 00:50:10a really evangelist about what you're
- 00:50:12doing there's people out there that love
- 00:50:13cocy and love mushrooms even for raw
- 00:50:15even like whatever it is I understand
- 00:50:17they're all gourmet mushrooms great
- 00:50:19great great um I I'd find somebody
- 00:50:21that's really into food I'm a foodie um
- 00:50:23but I'd find individuals that really
- 00:50:25care about that that love that movement
- 00:50:27and understand why that's really
- 00:50:29important especially in a Food City like
- 00:50:31Vegas right do you have any contracts in
- 00:50:33place any major chefs that are all over
- 00:50:36this from the city we sell to all the
- 00:50:37major casinos okay um
- 00:50:41what's is there a way to increase those
- 00:50:43contracts or is it literally the
- 00:50:44bottleneck is you don't have enough
- 00:50:45product the bottleneck we don't have
- 00:50:47enough product okay and you believe in
- 00:50:49your heart that's completely true yes
- 00:50:51okay so literally you had 500 Grand
- 00:50:53tomorrow You' You' immediately increase
- 00:50:55sales we need quite a a lot we need like
- 00:50:57maybe 5 million for the next Farm it
- 00:51:00includes like
- 00:51:02automation stair step into that next do
- 00:51:04you guys see what I'm doing here okay uh
- 00:51:07there no stair step like you're screwed
- 00:51:09if you don't get 5 million you're never
- 00:51:10going to get the next next
- 00:51:12step it is just much more efficient at
- 00:51:16that size I would challenge you guys to
- 00:51:18think about what the next stage is in
- 00:51:20inside of that so two things um real
- 00:51:23estate's complicated um like for example
- 00:51:27we've done 500 founder and funer events
- 00:51:29The Last 5 Years um 300 of those were
- 00:51:32done or more than 300 of those were done
- 00:51:35with no venue we didn't own the spaces
- 00:51:37that we did them in and all the cities
- 00:51:39we did them in as you guys know you guys
- 00:51:41come out to Venture House the the
- 00:51:42properties are 10 and 20 bedroom houses
- 00:51:44uh we also have a Content Studio on the
- 00:51:46Las Vegas Strip all that kind of stuff
- 00:51:48we do own the properties the level of
- 00:51:50complexity that that creates is as cool
- 00:51:52as it is it's a lot of overhead uh now
- 00:51:55your business depends on it ours doesn't
- 00:51:57necessarily because we're basically
- 00:51:58ecosystem building and we eat the cost
- 00:52:00because we believe in fostering Venture
- 00:52:02but I can just tell you the level of
- 00:52:03complexity even with what we're doing to
- 00:52:05expand it because there's so much real
- 00:52:07estate involved in real estate's very
- 00:52:09expensive uh is it's a significant jump
- 00:52:13I would think that the intersection of
- 00:52:15someone that really loves food or
- 00:52:16believes that our food is poisoned or
- 00:52:18whatever um and also knows real estate
- 00:52:21might be a good type of archetype of
- 00:52:25investor to attempt to talk talk to
- 00:52:26about this um the difficult challeng is
- 00:52:29is that Real Estate Investors do not
- 00:52:31think at all like Venture investors they
- 00:52:34think completely differently because
- 00:52:36they're data driven because does the
- 00:52:37appraisal match or not kind of a thing
- 00:52:40right uh whereas Venture is a lot more
- 00:52:42on like the story of the founders and
- 00:52:45whether or not you can enroll them into
- 00:52:47the vision of where you're going to take
- 00:52:49the future of this company and their
- 00:52:51money is going to come along with right
- 00:52:52as part of that Journey um so I would
- 00:52:55recommend strongly that you come hang
- 00:52:57out and in in the telegram chats and
- 00:53:00start asking and seeing what some of the
- 00:53:01Nuance feedback is on it the other thing
- 00:53:04I was going to say to you is I don't see
- 00:53:05in here a very developed GTM go-to
- 00:53:08Market strategy with
- 00:53:10this um and it makes me concerned about
- 00:53:12if you're going to be able to get the
- 00:53:13scale if you don't have a more developed
- 00:53:15sales plan and channel partner plan so
- 00:53:19that's something we're literally
- 00:53:20covering that on Tuesday next Tuesday
- 00:53:22and it's free all this is free so I'd
- 00:53:24recommend that you come and do that and
- 00:53:25I would really get
- 00:53:27really clear cuz here's the thing
- 00:53:29anytime a really experienced fun hears
- 00:53:31you're going to use their money to get
- 00:53:33to Market as far as marketing unless you
- 00:53:35can show them that you already have the
- 00:53:37math because you've already done the
- 00:53:38exercise and you've already broken down
- 00:53:41what your cost of acquisition is per
- 00:53:43restaurant per contract per Chef per
- 00:53:46whatever you're going to find it A Hard
- 00:53:48Sell because we know how easy it is to
- 00:53:51burn money on
- 00:53:53marketing um Joe Rogan was talking about
- 00:53:57CNN or somebody else whatever you care
- 00:53:59about or believe CNN spent I don't know
- 00:54:02how much freaking money to get 10,000
- 00:54:04users it was millions millions and
- 00:54:07millions and millions of
- 00:54:09money
- 00:54:11and they demonstrated that they don't
- 00:54:13have a very good understanding of Their
- 00:54:14audience they burned a ton of cash it
- 00:54:17was not a very efficient thing whereas
- 00:54:20Joe Rogan spends zero I'll give you
- 00:54:22another example how many of you guys
- 00:54:24seen The Wolverine uh Deadpool movie um
- 00:54:28all those viral videos you saw that uh
- 00:54:32were put together that Ryan Reynolds
- 00:54:34did they didn't put they didn't put any
- 00:54:38money they put money into marketing for
- 00:54:40sure but they did not put any money
- 00:54:42behind those organic videos now there
- 00:54:44was unique advantages that he has as a
- 00:54:46marketing genius and he has a marketing
- 00:54:48company and he's an actor and his type
- 00:54:51of humor and the whole Deadpool being
- 00:54:53able to break the fourth wall which is
- 00:54:55different than other superheroes they
- 00:54:56played on all of that including the
- 00:54:58wokeness of Disney and making fun of
- 00:55:00Disney which I cannot believe they got
- 00:55:01away with and they were able to leverage
- 00:55:03that that's a nuanced marketing plan and
- 00:55:05a nuanced GTM it was part of their GTM
- 00:55:08to do these little vignettes with
- 00:55:10Deadpool right and Wolverine and him
- 00:55:12being at each other's throats and all
- 00:55:13this kind of stuff so I think that you
- 00:55:15guys need to do the same thing I do not
- 00:55:17hear Founders often enough in their
- 00:55:19pitch and this is again is is about to
- 00:55:21happen like if you go do a pitch and I
- 00:55:23didn't tell you to do this I'm almost
- 00:55:24certain that you wouldn't have put your
- 00:55:25GTM plan and with some clarity it only
- 00:55:28needs to be a few sentences in a
- 00:55:29two-minute pitch but you need to be able
- 00:55:31to describe it okay so since we're
- 00:55:32already like in markets and there is
- 00:55:34demand yeah is that not enough do we
- 00:55:36need to no GTM is something you're
- 00:55:38always doing so every time you open up
- 00:55:40new markets what's the GTM plan for that
- 00:55:43what worked last time what could be
- 00:55:44better what could give us a better
- 00:55:45profit margin I'm not an expert in your
- 00:55:48industry or in Foods in general but I do
- 00:55:50know 20% profit margin is probably not
- 00:55:53going to get you to some of the scale
- 00:55:55that you want gotcha because your next
- 00:55:57leap is just it's 5 million bucks I mean
- 00:55:58that's a huge leap so something
- 00:56:01something we can continue to discuss
- 00:56:02let's move on some more questions but by
- 00:56:04all means like this is a conversation
- 00:56:06I'm not trying to say you know this that
- 00:56:07be all end all another question is how
- 00:56:09would we value our ourselves yeah uh
- 00:56:13talking enough uh value yourself that
- 00:56:16something we probably have time to
- 00:56:17handle right this second but we have a
- 00:56:19whole Channel devoted to that with
- 00:56:20content it's all free with an expert
- 00:56:22that's literally walking you through how
- 00:56:24to wait create the valuation and all
- 00:56:26that but it's a factor of is there any
- 00:56:28technology in the company is the
- 00:56:30business model set up in a way where
- 00:56:31it's got margins and I don't just mean
- 00:56:33the margin you currently have is there
- 00:56:35something about it that makes it more of
- 00:56:37a startup and a venture versus a small
- 00:56:39business right now I'm hearing it's more
- 00:56:41of a small business that's okay there's
- 00:56:43pros and cons to both Ventures and
- 00:56:44startups sorry and small businesses uh
- 00:56:47startups usually move at a much faster
- 00:56:49Pace they're much more cash hungry they
- 00:56:51need to have Innovation they have to
- 00:56:52have a moat which means you can easily
- 00:56:54protect the The Venture from other
- 00:56:55compan that are like it some markets
- 00:56:57tend to be win or take all this is not
- 00:56:59one of them but there is a finite amount
- 00:57:01of restaurants that want mushrooms in
- 00:57:03the city and Beyond and so these are
- 00:57:05things that you got to think about and
- 00:57:06again this is the reason why the GTM is
- 00:57:08something that's ever
- 00:57:09evolving and so the valuation part of it
- 00:57:12we need to have more Nuance conversation
- 00:57:14kind of break that down but awesome AES
- 00:57:16keep coming hang all right who else do
- 00:57:17we
- 00:57:19have quickly
- 00:57:22quickly and thanks for not taking
- 00:57:25anything personally that I say guys I'm
- 00:57:27not trying to be the person that says
- 00:57:29your baby's ugly sometimes it is um but
- 00:57:32it's because we really want to see your
- 00:57:34guys' Ventures be more successful and
- 00:57:36frankly funders are just not as direct
- 00:57:38and honest sometimes as I think that
- 00:57:39they need to be for people to get the
- 00:57:41message and just know hey go go fix this
- 00:57:43it's it's all a conversation of Just
- 00:57:45Dial this in Just Dial this in just hey
- 00:57:47let's move this or hey I don't know
- 00:57:48about this and guess you want to know
- 00:57:49who knows more than I do the market the
- 00:57:53market always knows more than I do in
- 00:57:54the aggregate and so that's something
- 00:57:57why that's my default answer is what is
- 00:57:59the market saying and you're like they
- 00:58:00love our product we're selling out okay
- 00:58:02great how do you do more of that and how
- 00:58:04do you how are you in control of doing
- 00:58:06more of that versus what reactively
- 00:58:08happens coming back to that whole design
- 00:58:11theme we have today what's up buddy
- 00:58:12what's up I'm JJ by the way first time
- 00:58:14here at Tech alley just long time caller
- 00:58:17first time Mountain I love that joke I
- 00:58:19do that whole time I do that all the
- 00:58:21time so tell us what you're building
- 00:58:23yeah um so we're basically building it's
- 00:58:25called check it don't ever say we're
- 00:58:27basically okay okay we are building uh
- 00:58:30um better a mobile application that uses
- 00:58:33AI computer vision technology to help
- 00:58:35bring Synergy to this amateur sports
- 00:58:38ecosystem and increase the value of the
- 00:58:39data so what I would do if you were
- 00:58:41pitching this is I would take the the
- 00:58:43actual thing you're doing I put that
- 00:58:45first and then I'd say we use AI to do
- 00:58:47that don't put AI in the front row seat
- 00:58:49put the put the problem in the solution
- 00:58:51in the AIC it's a little tweak but it
- 00:58:53makes it different okay what's your
- 00:58:55question um um currently we're building
- 00:58:58it right now um and are you doing it
- 00:59:00from chat GPT or are you building your
- 00:59:02own llm from the ground we're going to
- 00:59:04build our own L and we're uh
- 00:59:08basically um trying to just our nordstar
- 00:59:13are for me I'm an anime fan so I use one
- 00:59:16piece for our culture uh to go after
- 00:59:18just trying to make the world the better
- 00:59:20place through Sports because I
- 00:59:22personally grew up in there yeah um what
- 00:59:26advice would you have for myself where I
- 00:59:29know my strategy and every bit of advice
- 00:59:31that I've gotten is hey try to get the
- 00:59:33data um to show that there is something
- 00:59:36truly there which we're trying to build
- 00:59:39what can I do right now as the
- 00:59:42CEO to prepare ourselves for the next
- 00:59:44step of potentially getting fundraising
- 00:59:47okay so uh I'm not a big Sports person I
- 00:59:50didn't grow up around Sports I don't
- 00:59:51actually care about them that much but a
- 00:59:54here's what I do care about I care about
- 00:59:56that everybody else cares about them and
- 00:59:58I know how powerful sports are and this
- 01:00:01is a sport City I believe it's one of
- 01:00:03the five verticals that Vegas is going
- 01:00:05to absolutely be able to crush it and
- 01:00:06from a venture perspective I love that
- 01:00:09Sports brings people together I love
- 01:00:10that people have become so passionate
- 01:00:12about sports uh to me I'm too practical
- 01:00:15I'm like I don't want to live or die
- 01:00:17based on what the Raiders do right I I
- 01:00:19like the Raiders now cuz I'm a Vegas guy
- 01:00:21through and through so team Raiders you
- 01:00:23know but um that's that's been my
- 01:00:26disconnect from it but here's what I
- 01:00:27know I know that people spend a whole
- 01:00:30lot of freaking time that I don't think
- 01:00:31they have on a sport that probably isn't
- 01:00:33going to impact their life I know this
- 01:00:35is pissing all sorts of people off uh
- 01:00:37and and they do fantasy sports so what
- 01:00:39does this tell me this tells me as a
- 01:00:41Founder you should be building some
- 01:00:42Community around what you're doing your
- 01:00:44go-to community strategy and we can talk
- 01:00:46about this more in the in the channels
- 01:00:48in more depth anybody that has more
- 01:00:49questions that wants to whatever can
- 01:00:51just tag me in one of the channels and
- 01:00:52we'll get to you you know in Fairly real
- 01:00:54time um start thinking about the
- 01:00:57smallest simplest
- 01:00:59version of a micro Community 10 people
- 01:01:0320 people 30 people that you can own the
- 01:01:05conversation around that would care
- 01:01:07about the problem that you're solving
- 01:01:08and will give you feedback and all of
- 01:01:10that and and be involved in that that's
- 01:01:11what I would do whether you're hosting
- 01:01:12it in person and you're doing backyard
- 01:01:15barbecues and it's super lowkey or
- 01:01:17whether it's online and it's a place
- 01:01:19where they get to come talk about the
- 01:01:21their their excitement around Sports and
- 01:01:23how it's connected to that that's one
- 01:01:25strategy we call this GTC goto Community
- 01:01:28um also the skills implicit in you being
- 01:01:31a host and you being a great leader and
- 01:01:32you being enrolling which is all
- 01:01:34connected to your ability to pitch and
- 01:01:35raise you learn it from Community
- 01:01:37Building mhm right yep nobody like said
- 01:01:41here Kurt you should start building a
- 01:01:42bunch of communities across the country
- 01:01:44in different cities and doing events I
- 01:01:46just did it I just decided it's needed
- 01:01:50and I built what I would want to be a
- 01:01:51part of yeah being around purpose and
- 01:01:53contribution driven entrepreneurs that
- 01:01:55care about impact and that's the reason
- 01:01:56we built this spice thing that we ran
- 01:01:58for many years and then now we have you
- 01:02:00know Fusion 42 which is much more
- 01:02:02focused on Founders that want to
- 01:02:03fundraise and then we have Angel X which
- 01:02:06is for Angel Investors that want to
- 01:02:07really learn and then Co invest together
- 01:02:09yeah right so I would think about that
- 01:02:11let's and let's have more conversation
- 01:02:13about it yeah no I mean um for me this
- 01:02:16idea came to me like a long time ago
- 01:02:18when you know I actually was a baseball
- 01:02:19instructor and you know I played Sports
- 01:02:23particularly baseball my whole life you
- 01:02:25know and and um I think Atomic network
- 01:02:28is kind of like what you're talking
- 01:02:29about so we've kind of figured uh you
- 01:02:31know with Community it's again that's
- 01:02:34how why all this is coming to be and
- 01:02:36start seeing who's willing to part with
- 01:02:37some dollars you know for the solution
- 01:02:38You're Building start seeing who's like
- 01:02:40Avid find The Advocates that are willing
- 01:02:42to go get other individuals to be a part
- 01:02:44of what you're doing and and test it
- 01:02:47we're doing the same thing at Fusion
- 01:02:48we're always testing different things
- 01:02:49we're seeing what worked for that
- 01:02:50founder what produced Clarity you know
- 01:02:52what was the messaging you know how how
- 01:02:54was it you know what percent percentage
- 01:02:56of people that come to the events or
- 01:02:57that come to the whatevers you know end
- 01:02:58up having uh you know Founders that say
- 01:03:00funders that say Hey I'm interested in
- 01:03:02this you know or I'd actually like to
- 01:03:04back this person Kurt what do you think
- 01:03:06you know uh those kinds of things so
- 01:03:08that's where I'd start cool no I
- 01:03:09appreciate that man hang out in the
- 01:03:10sessions too yeah all right buddy you
- 01:03:12ready thank sweet okay we probably have
- 01:03:15time for one or two more after this
- 01:03:19maybe all right good to see you again
- 01:03:21buddy as well good day everyone my name
- 01:03:24is Martin and I'm Bill building a mobile
- 01:03:27app that's designed for contribut
- 01:03:28contributors to be able to create and
- 01:03:31share short personalized introduction
- 01:03:33videos that help facilitate meaningful
- 01:03:36connections and knowledge exchange that
- 01:03:38was a lot of words but do you understand
- 01:03:40it yeah great good job so my question is
- 01:03:44earlier you talked about uh Dell's model
- 01:03:46sell now build later right well what
- 01:03:49would you say about my product which is
- 01:03:51more of a network product well where my
- 01:03:54where I have to build the community and
- 01:03:56the community is the value and I have to
- 01:03:58show that to to to the community to be
- 01:04:01able to sell a subscription so what
- 01:04:04would you say as so I love behavioral
- 01:04:05economics which is the science of
- 01:04:07psychology why people do things in
- 01:04:09economics why do people do things in the
- 01:04:11long term right mashed together and
- 01:04:14inside of that you have another
- 01:04:16economics term is called a network
- 01:04:18effect how many of you guys know what a
- 01:04:19network effect is this is the reason why
- 01:04:20Silicon Valley kicks so much ass for 60
- 01:04:2370 years they've had a bunch of freaking
- 01:04:24talent coming together solving problems
- 01:04:27and it's created so much success it just
- 01:04:28keeps building so Network effect
- 01:04:30basically is the more participants that
- 01:04:33join a network or the more Talent OR
- 01:04:36output it joins a network the more
- 01:04:38valuable it becomes and this is the this
- 01:04:40is the community effect at work so when
- 01:04:43you're building a Marketplace which is
- 01:04:45what you're doing where you have people
- 01:04:47on one end and on the other hand and and
- 01:04:49you want them to participate together or
- 01:04:50interact together or transact together
- 01:04:53you really have to have an even more
- 01:04:54developed G M goto market and you need
- 01:04:58to be continually looking at the
- 01:05:00feedback and the data that you're
- 01:05:01pulling in to see what's working um this
- 01:05:04book that I mentioned at the beginning
- 01:05:06is going to be really good for you
- 01:05:07because he says the only metric that
- 01:05:09really matters is retention are people
- 01:05:11coming back and are they telling other
- 01:05:12people about it right and why are they
- 01:05:15coming back so that's something that I
- 01:05:17would really really really really really
- 01:05:18start to focus in on is is who are the
- 01:05:20power users and why are they there and
- 01:05:22what's their reason for coming back and
- 01:05:24then I would also recognize but if
- 01:05:26you're going to talk about Community you
- 01:05:27should also have a very intentional
- 01:05:30Community design for what you're
- 01:05:32building most people say I have a
- 01:05:34community what they have is a group
- 01:05:36there wasn't intelligent architecture or
- 01:05:38design put behind their Community now I
- 01:05:41might nerd out about this a little bit
- 01:05:42more than most because I've spent so
- 01:05:44much time in the community building
- 01:05:46space and then ecosystem building which
- 01:05:48is the the space even above that where
- 01:05:50you get multiple communities interacting
- 01:05:52with each other so if you don't have a
- 01:05:53really really well defined intentionally
- 01:05:56well thought out what's the experience
- 01:05:58from the minute for example with spice
- 01:06:01from the minute that they got the invite
- 01:06:02to the minute that they showed up at the
- 01:06:03front door they walked in to live music
- 01:06:05to they were handed wine to they were
- 01:06:07seated at the table for an intentional
- 01:06:09Mastermind dinner to the experiences and
- 01:06:11everything Beyond and then when they
- 01:06:12left that entire experience because we
- 01:06:15thought about it more and we were
- 01:06:16intentional about it every step there
- 01:06:19was a feeling that people wouldn't there
- 01:06:20it's not like they went home and said
- 01:06:22that was a super intentional event bro
- 01:06:24you know but they know how they felt and
- 01:06:27they kept coming back and and the energy
- 01:06:29of the room with the individuals that we
- 01:06:31brought in and who we allowed to come
- 01:06:34that were purpose and contribution
- 01:06:35driven created an energy that people
- 01:06:37absolutely recognized and then the
- 01:06:39container of the room which is the
- 01:06:41leadership the city captains that were
- 01:06:43running the event even though these were
- 01:06:45not necessarily always fancy is what
- 01:06:48maintained and created that experience
- 01:06:49and that's why it was spice versus hey
- 01:06:52we do Mastermind dinners not like we do
- 01:06:54right so I would really really really
- 01:06:56strongly recommend is is your GTM and
- 01:06:58your GTC are tied together and I usually
- 01:07:01put them in this order your 100 client
- 01:07:03conversations or thousand client
- 01:07:05conversations your GTM which is always
- 01:07:07evolving you build it we're doing
- 01:07:09sessions the next couple weeks on it
- 01:07:11then it's your GTC like how do we start
- 01:07:13thinking about building a Branded
- 01:07:15Network or even if it's a water cooler
- 01:07:17conversation that we maintain and then
- 01:07:19your gtf which is our go-to fund raise
- 01:07:21which is informed by all the feedback
- 01:07:23all the iteration all all the clients
- 01:07:26telling us exactly what the problem
- 01:07:28really is how painful it is for them and
- 01:07:30what the solution is based on their
- 01:07:32feedback the market telling us not me
- 01:07:34deciding what I think is best is that
- 01:07:37clear okay do you have a follow on
- 01:07:39question uh what other metrics would you
- 01:07:42say so I'm uh there's a you can use a
- 01:07:45bunch of surveys you could use Google
- 01:07:47forms you don't have to have it be
- 01:07:48pretty you don't have to have it super
- 01:07:49simple um but you just really again
- 01:07:52retention is the main thing how many
- 01:07:53people come that decide to come back and
- 01:07:56how many people decide to refer other
- 01:07:57individuals into the network and the
- 01:07:59more of that you have going on the
- 01:08:01better we have a goal inside of uh
- 01:08:03Fusion of of an 8% per week growth
- 01:08:07that's not easy we do it sometimes we
- 01:08:09don't do it other times but that knowing
- 01:08:11what that is and knowing how to track it
- 01:08:13is really important so we're really data
- 01:08:15driven on the funding platform side
- 01:08:17because we need to understand not just
- 01:08:19what the funders are saying but what
- 01:08:20they're actually doing not what the
- 01:08:21funders are saying but what they're
- 01:08:23actually doing and what's the
- 01:08:24interaction they're having and then
- 01:08:25framers which are the experts in the
- 01:08:26middle help the startup stand up you
- 01:08:29know what's their experience as well
- 01:08:31okay I guess one more any um
- 01:08:33non-dilutive uh strategies you have to
- 01:08:35share for any anybody here non-dilutive
- 01:08:38we talk about that all all the time you
- 01:08:42guys can go to my featured articles on
- 01:08:44my LinkedIn I've got the little Chili
- 01:08:45Pepper there and I have a bunch of
- 01:08:47conversations around the different
- 01:08:49Capital macros the capital categories
- 01:08:51Capital types and this topic of
- 01:08:54sponsored capital I will say this there
- 01:08:56is no perfect Capital type do not think
- 01:08:59that giving away equity in your business
- 01:09:00is a bad thing it's not if you choose
- 01:09:03the right Partners if you choose the
- 01:09:04right funders and when you get funded
- 01:09:07almost never is it one investor it's
- 01:09:10going to be and this goes back to
- 01:09:11fundraising fluency it's going to be a
- 01:09:13stack of capital in your rounds
- 01:09:15typically and then we call that Capital
- 01:09:18stack what is the different investors
- 01:09:19that are in there and what's the
- 01:09:20different types of capital and then
- 01:09:22Capital sequences what's the sequence of
- 01:09:24capital the daisy ch of relationships
- 01:09:26and resources that come into your
- 01:09:28Venture for most Founders this is
- 01:09:29halfhazard it's not intentional there's
- 01:09:31no design it's all
- 01:09:33default but it can be a pattern and you
- 01:09:36absolutely can do it and you can rig the
- 01:09:37game for your own Venture it just comes
- 01:09:39down to are you willing to show up and
- 01:09:40actually learn this stuff and I will say
- 01:09:42we are pretty much the only group out
- 01:09:43there that teaches it and it's not
- 01:09:45because I have a funer background it's
- 01:09:47because when you learn to build a
- 01:09:48funding platform and you have to start
- 01:09:49teaching this stuff to people you learn
- 01:09:51it really really really really really
- 01:09:54well I thought I really knew capital I
- 01:09:56knew nothing before I started building a
- 01:09:58funding platform relative to what I've
- 01:10:00had to learn and I'm learning every
- 01:10:01single day every single day most funders
- 01:10:04could not tell you 10 different types of
- 01:10:07capital so they don't even know it
- 01:10:09exists so how can they help you find it
- 01:10:11and understand this no funer wants to be
- 01:10:13the last check into a deal right so this
- 01:10:16is the reason why we're tackling this
- 01:10:18problem I would come and hang out in the
- 01:10:19sessions particularly the ones that are
- 01:10:22around uh deep topics on fundraising
- 01:10:24fluen we usually start with marketing
- 01:10:27and sales driven stuff because you have
- 01:10:29to start there you have nothing to sell
- 01:10:30you have nothing to Market you have
- 01:10:31nothing to pitch if you don't get that
- 01:10:33part right um and then we get into
- 01:10:36what's the mechanics of fundraising
- 01:10:38what's the details that you need to know
- 01:10:39how do you look for it how do you do
- 01:10:41Capital Discovery how do you talk to
- 01:10:43different groups how do you pitch
- 01:10:44different groups right there's people
- 01:10:46that you pitch where you're you're
- 01:10:47pitching a professional investor this is
- 01:10:49what they do full-time and what you're
- 01:10:51going to get in return is someone that
- 01:10:52wants terms and wants equity in your
- 01:10:54company if you try to pitch somebody
- 01:10:56that way for sponsor Capital you might
- 01:11:00just turn on their Reptilian Brain where
- 01:11:01it goes from I was going to write you a
- 01:11:03check no interest or equity in your
- 01:11:04business to okay now they boot up and
- 01:11:07they're like okay I want Equity from the
- 01:11:09same person if you don't approach him
- 01:11:11the right way so I have a funer where
- 01:11:15he'll write a couple $100,000 checks if
- 01:11:17he really likes the deal and he doesn't
- 01:11:19care but the minute you start having
- 01:11:21like a a real conversation about bigger
- 01:11:23money or if you talk to them like you're
- 01:11:24talking to a see it it switches
- 01:11:26something on in him because he's got
- 01:11:28that killer instinct right and so it all
- 01:11:31depends on what you want he could be a
- 01:11:32great partner or in some cases maybe
- 01:11:35that particular project needs some
- 01:11:37sponsored capital and this is where I I
- 01:11:40think again understanding the spectrum
- 01:11:42of available Capital that's out there I
- 01:11:43haven't said it during this session most
- 01:11:45of you guys are chasing after VC's
- 01:11:46that's 3% of the capital that's out
- 01:11:48there
- 01:11:503% and most VC's are glorified Brokers
- 01:11:53that's okay I was too to a degree a lot
- 01:11:56of the money that we did was our own
- 01:11:57money but most VCS are basically running
- 01:12:01somebody else's Capital so if you want
- 01:12:03non-dilutive which usually means debt in
- 01:12:06most circles when I say non-dilutive it
- 01:12:08does not mean debt debt is debt I mean
- 01:12:10you have you have to pay it back I love
- 01:12:12it when people act like oh our funding
- 01:12:13is non-dilutive yeah it's because it's a
- 01:12:15loan cool that's great debt is awesome
- 01:12:19sometimes if you have a marketing
- 01:12:21multiple meaning that you figured out
- 01:12:23the math equation of when I spend this I
- 01:12:25get this debt can be amazing because it
- 01:12:28can be fueled to grow the company and
- 01:12:29this is how a lot of private Equity
- 01:12:30companies grow because they've got their
- 01:12:32processes and their systems and their
- 01:12:33sales Cycles all dialed in debts way
- 01:12:36better than Equity capital for that
- 01:12:38however there are other options and the
- 01:12:42it's it's a really big conversation so
- 01:12:44all right awesome appreciate we probably
- 01:12:46have time for one more thank you so much
- 01:12:47buddy time for one
- 01:12:49more how many of you guys are enjoying
- 01:12:52this okay great we have this 247
- 01:12:55in the telegram group come and ask
- 01:12:57whatever you want you going to come
- 01:12:59down you is this short question or a big
- 01:13:02one come down come tell us what you're
- 01:13:04working
- 01:13:06on don't let me forget to get a group
- 01:13:08picture after this I'm brand new as of
- 01:13:11like half hour ago so I had she didn't
- 01:13:13know she was Raising until 30 minutes
- 01:13:15ago no I didn't my name my name's Cary
- 01:13:18okay um I
- 01:13:21am solving the solution of a having
- 01:13:26to hide our pill box okay so what I've
- 01:13:30developed and designed is a beautiful
- 01:13:32pill box and it's paired with an app so
- 01:13:35a pill tracking app and regiment that
- 01:13:36you can share with a caretaker and so if
- 01:13:39your caretakers across the country or if
- 01:13:41you're um I don't know visit visiting
- 01:13:44Italy for a couple months you're
- 01:13:45caretaker instead of having like a crazy
- 01:13:48conversation like Mom did you take your
- 01:13:49pills she can just check the app and
- 01:13:51she's like okay my mom took the pills
- 01:13:53you know so anyway but um
- 01:13:56I just kind of going through covid um my
- 01:13:59mom's like you got to take all these
- 01:14:01vitamins and stuff every single day and
- 01:14:02she had one of those Monday through
- 01:14:03Friday you know pill boxes and I was
- 01:14:06like we're not doing this so I made a
- 01:14:07luxury product I want to position um out
- 01:14:10there as a luxury product so I was able
- 01:14:12to trademark the name it's Pula and that
- 01:14:15means pill in Latin and I've gone
- 01:14:18through like five different designers we
- 01:14:20uh finally have an industrial designer
- 01:14:22that really came through for me um I
- 01:14:24have uh the Prototype that I'm using and
- 01:14:27it's gorgeous so the app's done the app
- 01:14:29is not done no okay and the the product
- 01:14:31is done the product how many of you guys
- 01:14:33know what I'm thinking already okay tell
- 01:14:36me I know for different reason Rick Rick
- 01:14:38Rick knows me very well but yes Rick
- 01:14:41what do you think I'm thinking so
- 01:14:42far it's okay just be direct yeah uh I I
- 01:14:46know there's a question you want to ask
- 01:14:47too well probably two things but one I
- 01:14:50think you're thinking about the pitch
- 01:14:52itself and it's been a little little
- 01:14:54lengthy
- 01:14:56yeah I asked her a direct question she's
- 01:14:57telling us a story literally my first
- 01:14:59time okay it's it's we're here to help
- 01:15:01we're here to help it's okay what else
- 01:15:03what else that okay oh how many of you
- 01:15:06guys go ahead app yes 100 client
- 01:15:09conversations about the product yeah I
- 01:15:10have had I have a survey that I took
- 01:15:12probably this is two and a half years
- 01:15:14I've been working on this so I've done
- 01:15:15surveys and I did focus group on the app
- 01:15:18actually um the app um features so did
- 01:15:21the focus group on the Pula pod is what
- 01:15:24it's called so I've done I've done how
- 01:15:26do you how do you great yeah what's your
- 01:15:29question real quick before I my question
- 01:15:31is I don't know anything about
- 01:15:32fundraising and I need you're in the
- 01:15:34right room in the right room so I'm
- 01:15:36actually um I actually put together a
- 01:15:38Kickstarter I know I have how many of
- 01:15:39you guys think it's the wrong time to
- 01:15:41raise when you need money it is that's
- 01:15:44the wrong time M the the right time was
- 01:15:47n months ago 12 months ago it's okay
- 01:15:49you're in the right place we we'll get
- 01:15:51you situated um but you need to raise
- 01:15:54when you're not desperate
- 01:15:55need to raise when you you you can
- 01:15:57actually take in options and you can
- 01:16:00have a choice between six or seven or 10
- 01:16:03or 12 different investors and choose the
- 01:16:04one that's most aligned with your
- 01:16:05project how many of you guys believe
- 01:16:07that the company you're building is
- 01:16:08worth 50 million 100 million could
- 01:16:11potentially have a100 million plus exit
- 01:16:13a lot of raised hands okay treat that
- 01:16:16company like it's that asset are you
- 01:16:19going to allow your lack of fundraising
- 01:16:21knowledge your lack of personal way of
- 01:16:22being not getting feedback on that that
- 01:16:25from those that know and love and care
- 01:16:26from you or even your clients and
- 01:16:27customers are you going to let the the
- 01:16:29not understanding marketing very well
- 01:16:31get in your way I'm not making pointed
- 01:16:32comments to you I don't know you very
- 01:16:33well are you going to allow that to
- 01:16:36happen a real founder is going to say no
- 01:16:39I will not I will learn whatever I have
- 01:16:41to I will build whatever relationship I
- 01:16:43will go however far in order to serve
- 01:16:45the needs of the customer what I'm
- 01:16:47hearing is a very big focus on product
- 01:16:50right and not enough focus on do you
- 01:16:52already have the market mhm
- 01:16:55and this is so common I can smell it I
- 01:16:57can hear it very very quickly it's it's
- 01:17:00okay that this is the situation right um
- 01:17:03but it is better to have the market than
- 01:17:05to have the product Let me Give an
- 01:17:07example how many of you guys have been
- 01:17:09watching Ryan Reynolds the rock or
- 01:17:11George Clooney and their exits lately
- 01:17:13I'm not talking about any of the acting
- 01:17:15crap they've done I'm talking about the
- 01:17:17exits they've had from tequila all that
- 01:17:19how many of you guys are watching how
- 01:17:20fast these exits are happening they're
- 01:17:22happening at record Pace why CU they
- 01:17:24have the audience before they even built
- 01:17:26the product and this is how Founders
- 01:17:29they get this backwards they get this
- 01:17:31backwards they build the product and
- 01:17:32then they try to go out and find the
- 01:17:34market so my concern is is that you need
- 01:17:37to be a lot more focused on GTM and then
- 01:17:39that will help you to understand how to
- 01:17:40do the raise right so so do you have so
- 01:17:44you've been building this for two and a
- 01:17:45half years well yes okay do do you have
- 01:17:49a a wait list you have a bunch of people
- 01:17:51that have signed said hey I I want this
- 01:17:52the minute you're done with it well no
- 01:17:54so I'm getting getting ready to launch a
- 01:17:56Kickstarter so I don't know anything
- 01:17:57that's kind of why it's I I was a
- 01:17:59rhetorical question I'm I'm beating it
- 01:18:01up a little bit I already I already knew
- 01:18:02the answer would be no so yeah so I
- 01:18:04would I'm assuming a Kickstarter is kind
- 01:18:06of like that so once I I've have not put
- 01:18:09this out there all here here's what's
- 01:18:10here's what's wrong about your approach
- 01:18:11I'm going to save you a lot of time
- 01:18:13okay Kickstarter is crowdfunding
- 01:18:16crowdfunding is not some Magic Carpet
- 01:18:18Ride into Nirvana you still have to have
- 01:18:21a market you still have to have a list
- 01:18:23you still have so the dirty secret of
- 01:18:25crowdfunding is you got to have a crowd
- 01:18:27which you don't have now you can create
- 01:18:28it and I'm not saying you can't I'm I'm
- 01:18:30all for it let's do it GTC your your
- 01:18:34ability to create a community and your
- 01:18:36ability to create a marketing video
- 01:18:38which is essentially your message that
- 01:18:40inspires them to your Northstar right is
- 01:18:43what dictates the success you'll have
- 01:18:45with crowdfunding crowdfunding is a
- 01:18:46marketing exercise so is fundraising it
- 01:18:49is no different crowdfunding is
- 01:18:50different though because what you're
- 01:18:52what you have happening is you got a
- 01:18:53bunch of little people that are writing
- 01:18:55you checks Little People meaning small
- 01:18:56amounts of money that're effectively
- 01:18:58deciding to back your project CU they
- 01:18:59want to see it come into reality what's
- 01:19:01the difference between a VC it's just
- 01:19:03they're writing a really big check and
- 01:19:04they're hoping that you can bring it to
- 01:19:05market the the the thing that
- 01:19:07crowdfunders don't understand is the
- 01:19:09reason why crowdfunding cost about1 150
- 01:19:11Grand is because you need to develop a
- 01:19:12list you have to have one and then
- 01:19:14you're going to Market AB test different
- 01:19:18messages to that list to see what
- 01:19:19they're willing to buy and I I I fund
- 01:19:21stuff all the time off a Kickstarter you
- 01:19:23know for travel or whatever I bought
- 01:19:25a pillow that makes sure your head
- 01:19:27doesn't Bob while you're while you're
- 01:19:28traveling it's pretty awesome actually
- 01:19:29cuz none of the travel pillows actually
- 01:19:31do anything to keep your head from
- 01:19:32bobbing when you're on the plane right
- 01:19:33so this keeps your head from sinking
- 01:19:35down I was like cool and what got me
- 01:19:37wasn't even the product what got me was
- 01:19:40the husband and wife and the way they
- 01:19:42did their marketing I was like you know
- 01:19:43what hell yeah let's do this so the
- 01:19:46story is what matters and so the story
- 01:19:47is what matters when you're fundraising
- 01:19:49right so you're in the right place um
- 01:19:51and go ahead with more questions a but
- 01:19:54this is a marke exercise and that was
- 01:19:55the part I could sense wasn't wasn't
- 01:19:57developed GTM so would would you
- 01:20:00consider like my first my first approach
- 01:20:03would be to approach pharmaceutical
- 01:20:05companies to buy these for their doctors
- 01:20:08as a novelty gift okay so GTM and
- 01:20:11marketing are not the same thing okay
- 01:20:13it's okay it's okay so so marketing is
- 01:20:14how are you going to get leads that you
- 01:20:15can then sell okay that deserves its own
- 01:20:18set of attention inside your startup
- 01:20:20goto Market is how are we bringing this
- 01:20:22entire company to Market in a world of
- 01:20:24infinite possibilities and infinite
- 01:20:26options I have limited resources limited
- 01:20:28time limited relationships how can I use
- 01:20:31my unique whatevers to get this thing to
- 01:20:34Market and then as you move through
- 01:20:36building this thing you will continually
- 01:20:38refine that that's the reason why go-to
- 01:20:40Market doesn't have a beginning and an
- 01:20:41end you're always going to market right
- 01:20:43especially when you're launching new
- 01:20:43products okay crowdfunding is completely
- 01:20:46a different audience than you going and
- 01:20:48selling to corporates you can do both
- 01:20:51usually not with the same product maybe
- 01:20:54it happens sometimes you did say it's
- 01:20:56luxury so it's higher end um I think
- 01:21:00that you need to spend some more time
- 01:21:01really getting clear on the niches and
- 01:21:03then each Niche has its own way of being
- 01:21:06spoken to MH so if you're speaking to a
- 01:21:08British person about tea and their thing
- 01:21:11is tea which I don't know anything about
- 01:21:14they I've been speaking to a lot of
- 01:21:16British uh uh um folks lately so that's
- 01:21:19the reason it came in my mind you need
- 01:21:21to understand like that everything about
- 01:21:24that in order have a real conversation
- 01:21:25and sell them on something that's
- 01:21:26related to that so that's what I'm
- 01:21:28saying is is you need to have a nuan
- 01:21:29strategy for that okay um sometimes the
- 01:21:32corporates that might be interested in
- 01:21:34this are the ones that are willing to
- 01:21:36write you a check M to fund it from a
- 01:21:39sponsored perspective right um but this
- 01:21:42is again a topic that we would need to
- 01:21:44get into a lot more depth so my concern
- 01:21:47is this uh are you happy that it took
- 01:21:49you two and a half years to get to where
- 01:21:50you are now um yeah because I just
- 01:21:52resigned from teaching I'm a high I was
- 01:21:54High School teacher so I resigned on in
- 01:21:57May so now I'm finally working on a
- 01:21:59full-time so I'm actually I'm actually
- 01:22:01fine with it okay great would you be
- 01:22:03happy with another two and a half years
- 01:22:04passing by before you get to Market no
- 01:22:07okay so what kind of time frame are you
- 01:22:09giving yourself now um well I'd like to
- 01:22:12do this in the next year do you know
- 01:22:14what Parkinson's lies no I you do
- 01:22:18right what is it elisia oh
- 01:22:21wow don't get used to it I'm just
- 01:22:24kidding just okay what what's
- 01:22:25Parkinson's law a job will expand to the
- 01:22:27time allowed it a a a project a task a
- 01:22:30job will expand to the amount of time
- 01:22:32that we give it right I think you need
- 01:22:34to have more expediency around what
- 01:22:36you're building okay um a year is great
- 01:22:39if that's what it truly takes it I don't
- 01:22:41it's not going to take it year if you
- 01:22:42get really really serious on this you
- 01:22:44should be thinking in terms of like I'm
- 01:22:45already talking to manufacturers I would
- 01:22:47love to have these in my hands by
- 01:22:50October November sure so yeah so again I
- 01:22:53see a classic Focus product instead of
- 01:22:55on the market so here's what's cool
- 01:22:58let's say uh let's say uh the mushroom
- 01:23:00kids are influencers okay and let's say
- 01:23:04that they do a bunch of farmtable
- 01:23:06content how much easier do you think
- 01:23:08that they'd have opening markets testing
- 01:23:10products you name it if they had a large
- 01:23:15audience well they they could start
- 01:23:17tomorrow and be in business tomorrow
- 01:23:19right going back to the we sell
- 01:23:21computers then we build them most
- 01:23:23Founders bu stuff and then try to sell
- 01:23:25it without actually
- 01:23:27knowing sell to corporate and and like
- 01:23:29sell them pre-sell them okay right but
- 01:23:32have did you talk to corporates when you
- 01:23:34design the product literally this is
- 01:23:35where problem you see the problem I'm
- 01:23:37not saying it's not fixable but don't
- 01:23:39ever do that again sell it first sell it
- 01:23:42first it doesn't mean it scale sell it
- 01:23:45first okay so sell the idea first yes
- 01:23:49that's what entrepreneurship is isn't it
- 01:23:50beautiful okay right okay yeah um what
- 01:23:55do you show them just like some drawing
- 01:23:57nothing nothing that's what I'm trying
- 01:23:59to figure out that's where I'm like Rick
- 01:24:02is in the software business software
- 01:24:04doesn't exist not really it's zeros and
- 01:24:07ones and yet it's eaten the world cloud
- 01:24:11computing all this stuff it doesn't
- 01:24:13exist right it's an idea it's a concept
- 01:24:16it's the same thing here if a Founder is
- 01:24:18not able to gain traction it shows that
- 01:24:20they don't have enrollment I'm not
- 01:24:21saying you don't I don't know you but
- 01:24:24this is the job of a Founder is to
- 01:24:26enroll uh recruit recruits into a
- 01:24:28company that doesn't exist yet okay it
- 01:24:30exists to a certain degree now but not
- 01:24:32what it's going to become enroll an
- 01:24:33investor into a world that doesn't exist
- 01:24:35yet where this product creates this
- 01:24:37service for everybody enroll customers
- 01:24:39into a service that isn't as good as
- 01:24:41it's going to be do you think Mark Benny
- 01:24:42off when he started Salesforce was able
- 01:24:44to show them the monstrosity that
- 01:24:46Salesforce would become and then change
- 01:24:48the world with he put SAS on the map
- 01:24:50which is software as a service which is
- 01:24:51the business that Mr Rick is in it's
- 01:24:54okay it's okay it's okay no but we're
- 01:24:55going to do this and by the way okay how
- 01:24:57many you guys think it's cool to hear
- 01:24:58founder stories and get the background
- 01:25:01yes yes I do okay not only is it
- 01:25:03inspiring but it Le success leaves Clues
- 01:25:07how did I figure out all this extra
- 01:25:08stuff around
- 01:25:10fundraising I studied
- 01:25:12history I looked at how all the biggest
- 01:25:14companies in the world and more
- 01:25:16specifically verticals and industries in
- 01:25:18the world got created and I looked at
- 01:25:20the daisy chain of relationships and
- 01:25:23resources in the flow of goods and
- 01:25:24services and the evolution and I'm like
- 01:25:27that's the pattern mhm and it's true in
- 01:25:30every industry one thing we didn't get
- 01:25:32time to cover today I intended to cover
- 01:25:34was the importance of understanding the
- 01:25:36key stakeholders in a venture ecosystem
- 01:25:38and how you can align yourself to them
- 01:25:40to where you're the person in line that
- 01:25:41they will hand resources to when they
- 01:25:43have an opportunity to because the
- 01:25:44government doesn't produce anything they
- 01:25:46just take our tax money and they largely
- 01:25:48waste it they're not very efficient with
- 01:25:50capital because they don't have any
- 01:25:52accountability founders are very
- 01:25:54accountable because the market says
- 01:25:56sorry you ran out of capital you're done
- 01:25:58that's accountability right we have a
- 01:26:00timeline that we're on always we're up
- 01:26:01against it the government doesn't have
- 01:26:03that so the government hands resources
- 01:26:06to Founders locally at the county level
- 01:26:09at the mayor level at the state level at
- 01:26:11the regional level and at the national
- 01:26:13level so if you understand how to put
- 01:26:15yourself in the right position to
- 01:26:16receive those resources and
- 01:26:17relationships which is a whole other
- 01:26:19conversation how did I learn this I
- 01:26:21studied the founders that have built
- 01:26:22multi hundred billion companies and I
- 01:26:25say wow it's true in China it's true in
- 01:26:28South Korea it's true here it's true
- 01:26:30here it was true then and here it is and
- 01:26:32these are the kinds of things that
- 01:26:33Founders don't know and this the reason
- 01:26:34we call it fundraising fluency I love it
- 01:26:38awesome well welcome to who's got my
- 01:26:39money and let's get you into the
- 01:26:43sessions all right guys I invite you
- 01:26:45guys all to join me uh in the fusion 42
- 01:26:49Community uh to come and ask us anything
- 01:26:51you want come and bring your problems
- 01:26:53lay us at yeah at your feet at our feet
- 01:26:55as long as you guys are willing to do
- 01:26:56the work and want to receive that
- 01:26:58real-time feedback we offer really two
- 01:27:00major things in general we're building
- 01:27:02our own ecosystem and that ecosystem is
- 01:27:05you can get real-time feedback today on
- 01:27:07whatever your questions and comments are
- 01:27:08and then over time we have tracks of
- 01:27:10content from experts that help you to
- 01:27:13understand guys why would somebody that
- 01:27:14wants to build funding do more funding
- 01:27:17be helping you guys with all this stuff
- 01:27:18why because you're not fundable until
- 01:27:21you do I'm more concerned about the
- 01:27:23market Readiness that you guys have
- 01:27:26because if you become Market ready
- 01:27:27you'll either cash flow your way out of
- 01:27:29it or you'll find funders great projects
- 01:27:31great Founders always get funded but
- 01:27:34before we can address whether or not
- 01:27:35you're fundable we have to be more
- 01:27:37concerned about whether or not you're
- 01:27:38Market ready and most Founders are not
- 01:27:42and that's okay it's a process I say
- 01:27:44iterate again and again nobody got to be
- 01:27:47the best at what they do everybody knows
- 01:27:48I loved a mountain bike I did not get to
- 01:27:50the point where I could do some of the
- 01:27:51things I do on a bike unless I was
- 01:27:53willing to fall and I've fallen a lot
- 01:27:54off of mountains all the time doesn't
- 01:27:57happen much anymore because I now know
- 01:28:00what I'm doing I don't expect any of you
- 01:28:02guys to understand fundraising or all of
- 01:28:04this gobbly G but I do expect you guys
- 01:28:06to show up so if you guys can do that
- 01:28:09our commitment to you whether it's in
- 01:28:10this Vegas Venture ecosystem Community
- 01:28:13or whether it's online at Fusion 42 is
- 01:28:15that we're here to serve you I mentioned
- 01:28:16an audiobook if you guys want that come
- 01:28:18hang out in the telegram Channel with us
- 01:28:20and we'll get you guys set up and it's
- 01:28:22all free
- 01:28:25I'll get you set up come down here for a
- 01:28:27a picture real quick guys
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